DEDICATION OF JAKE MILLS BUILDING
TUPELO CHRISTIAN PREPARATORY SCHOOL
TRIBUTE GIVEN BY GRANT FOX
THURSDAY, MAY 3, 2007
1:30 P.M.
My name is Grant Fox and I have been given the distinct honor and privilege of making a few remarks about my dear friend, Jake Mills. I want to thank the Board of Directors, including Dr. David Talton and the Administration, for allowing me the privilege of visiting with you for a few minutes about Jake and the impact that he had on so many. Mississippi lost a legend April 17, 1999, when Jake Mills died at the age of 63. Businessman, lay speaker, political power broker, writer, College Board member, philanthropist and, most importantly, spiritual giant, Jake cut an impressive path across the culture of America.
Although he never ran for office, he was one of the most dynamic political figures in the history of our state. Charles Lowery, senior pastor of Hoffmantown Church in Albuquerque, N. M. Hoffmantown Church would be one of the largest protestant churches in the West. Dr. Lowery wrote following Jake Mills death: “Jake was an uncommon leader who led with common sense. He loved deeply and laughed hard. He was the king of one-liners and the master of the bottom line.... His legacy will live on in my heart until I, too, depart. Until then, I thank God that Jake was my friend.”
Since Jake’s death I have had so many men approach me and describe him as their best friend, brother, father. For me, he was indeed a second father, but he was also my mentor, meaning he was someone who I could attempt to model my life after. It was Dan Fogleberg who wrote the great song Leader of the Band, that said “my life has been a poor attempt to imitate the man.”
Jake was reared, as he would say, out from Kossuth, Mississippi in rural Alcorn County. He was the son of an educator and coach and played on a high school State Championship Basketball team. He later attended Mississippi College where he met his wife, the former Jane Jennings, of Cotton Plant, Mississippi in Tippah County. My wife Sara and I are so pleased to be here today with Jane, who is our dear friend.
Many of you of course know that Jake went on to a successful career in business as the owner of J. P. Mills Oil Company, which owned a number of Shell Gas Stations. What you may not know is that Jake and Jane were both teachers and both had a passion for education. Jake is fondly remembered as a teacher and coach in Brandon, Mississippi, just outside of Jackson. Jake was later appointed by Governor Kirk Fordice to the Board of Trustees of the Institutions of Higher Learning. The College Board as we know is one of the most sought after appointments in our state. These Board Members oversee our entire university system and all the individuals who hire the Presidents of our universities. Jake was a leader on the College Board. He was greatly admired by his fellow board members, both those appointed by Democratic Governors and well as Republican Governors, and the IHL staff members were very fond of him as well.
There are so many little things that I want to convey today about Jake: He was a tall, handsome and athletic man who could instantly command the attention of a room that he entered. He was a great orator who had a rich, booming wonderful voice that was pleasing to listen to. He was extremely funny and a great story teller which I greatly admired. I had the privilege of seeing him speak on occasion, mainly to Christian Men’s Groups. He was involved in the Christian Ministry called “Ministry to Men” based out of Memphis. Sara and I still laugh about Jake’s discussion of his conversion as an adult and how he and Jane were at the time members of a conservative Presbyterian Church, a PCA congregation, and Jake under conviction walked the aisle, making a profession of faith. Jake would tell the crowd “I found out later you weren’t suppose to do that in that church.”
To be very frank with you, there are certain individuals who you meet in life and those individuals are uniformly admired in the community. If the truth be known, we all watch these people who really want to be like them. Jake Mills was one of these individuals. As an individual he was a role model. And as a married couple, he and Jane were role models to so many young families.
He dearly loved Jane. It was a relationship that was a deep on a spiritual level as well as an emotional and intellectual level. It was the type of rare, special marriage that a couple can only have when their lives center around service to our LORD. Jake retired early from his business career in order to be with Jane and travel the country speaking and counseling. What a blessing that they did this and had those great years together prior to his death.
He loved his sons, Steve and Chris and his grandchildren very much. I recall fondly his loving relationship with his grandson, Josh, and how Jake admired Josh’s sweet spirit. I remember when his grandson, Jennings, somehow shattered the window of Jane’s BMW. Jake shouted “Jennings get into the house.” Jennings was later found whimpering in the back of a closet in Jake and Jane’s house. Jake just hugged him and loved him as a grandfather should and told him it was okay.
I could go on and on about what a radiant person Jake was. I cannot tell you how many men have told me of the profound impact that Jake’s death had on them. It was just one of those losses that was so difficult to overcome because he was larger than life and meant so much to so many people.
We are here today because Jake and Jane donated this land where this institution stands, it should be noted that by the time this site was purchased Chris Mills had become the successor owner of JP Mills Oil Company and he too assisted with the purchase of this property. He would not want recognition, but it is entirely appropriate that I mention his contribution as well as the entire Mills Family.
He had a vision that Evangelical Christians could come together in North Mississippi to educate their children. Jake knew that the spiritual training of boys and girls is an every day activity, not one hour of Sunday School time on Sunday. Rather than being educated by government schools he envisioned an environment where you would aggressively be exposed to a Christian world view. A. W. Tozer in his book, The Knowledge of the Holy begins “What comes into our minds when we think about GOD is the most important thing about us.” Jake Mills understood what Tozer was saying.
I want to make a few points for you to try to remember about Jake and his life, a few things for you to take away from here other than the fact that this building is being named for him and that he was instrumental in the founding of this institution.
1. While he was extremely effective in the circles of the powerful, it was his heart for the man on the street that made him unique. I want you to remember that Jake Mills was the same when he was with the Governor of the State as he was with the man who was painting his house, or someone who worked on line at a furniture factory or someone that he might have encountered at a country store. He understood that as Christians we are called to invest time and relationships and to minister to those around us. It is written in Matthew, “For whosoever exalts himself will be humbled. Whosoever humbles himself will be exalted.” Jake took to heart those words and reached out to so many around him. I know that for a fact because I have met a number of those people and many of them have shared with me the impact that Jake had on their lives. In short, Jake had a correct view of self which allowed him to appreciate the perfect nature and character of GOD. It is impossible to be humble when one’s view of GOD is not proper.
2. Jake was very opinionated and outspoken. He was a vigorous debater of positions he believed in. The point I want you to remember about Jake’s passionate advocacy for so many issues was that he had the ability to disagree with people without being disagreeable. Even those who completely disagreed with him held him in high esteem and many of them loved him. I submit to you that that is an extremely rare quality in our culture. For example, when Jake died, Danny McKenzie from here in Tupelo, widely to be considered one of the most liberal newspaper columnists in our State, wrote an article about Jake and how he admired him and admired how he stared death in the face with cancer and never complained. It is a great tribute to Jake that Danny as well as other individuals who disagreed with him on so many positions held him in such high regard.
3. Finally, I want you to remember that Jake was totally committed to the cause of Christ. And that he realized that commitment was born out not just in words, but in his actions. The Book of Matthew says “A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.” From his financial generosity to institutions like this, to the investment of time that he and Jane made in the lives of so many. I cannot tell you how many individuals have told Sara and me of being exposed to Christ through bible studies hosted by Jake and Jane. Others and there are many, many couples, have shared of marriage counseling that Jake and Jane did with them. There were many, many marriages saved and souls won as a result of these tangible investments in the lives of others. How many of us can say that we are that committed to our LORD? Do we really invest those amounts of time in teaching, speaking, counseling others and making a difference in others’ lives? Jake and Jane would drive around the country speaking. Jake would speak to these audiences at the Minister to Men Conferences. How many couples in their retirement years undertake that type of investments in others? Jake knew that from the time we are born in front of us is eternity and when you put eternity on a line, our lives are just a dot on that line throughout eternity. He was determined to use his time on this earth to make a difference for CHRIST, to win souls for HIS kingdom.
It is written in Hebrews “Holiness, without which no man shall see the LORD.” Jake Mills knew that our faith and our salvation is not cheap and easy and trite. That living for CHRIST was a very serious matter, contrary to what is taught today in many evangelical circles. I want to close with the quote from the book, Holiness by Bishop J. C. Ryle which was written in the 1800s. Bishop Ryle wrote “Holiness is the habit of being of one mind with GOD according as we find HIS mind described in the Scripture. It is the habit of agreeing in GOD’S judgment, hating what HE hates, loving what HE loves and measuring everything in this world by the standard of HIS WORD. He who most entirely agrees with GOD is the most holy man.”
It is a privilege today to report to you that more importantly than all of Jake Mills’ accomplishments, that he lived a sanctified and holy life. As he fought his battle with cancer, I am certain that he was sad that he would miss Jane, Steve, Chris and his grandchildren, but he knew that there is no greater sweetness than to be in Glory with our LORD. To come into the presence of a GOD who dwells in a high and lofty place, whose character is not only omnipotent, but omniscient and immutable. I thank GOD for Jake Mills and the life he lived.
