HOUSTON- James E. Lightfoot, who founded and was the pastor of Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church, recently died of cancer. He was 77. “He tried to help educate young people,” said Edward Lightfoot, the pastor’s eldest son. Edward Lightfoot described his father as not only a minister, but as a father figure to many. He also believed in the importance of education. “He wanted people to be able to experience life, and he said that God was the most important key to that, but having an education was the second most important key.”
James E. Lightfoot was the son of the late Mr. and Mrs. Ed Lightfoot of Bryan, Texas. He was born in Columbus, Mississippi. He began his formal education in Columbia, Tennessee and graduated from E. A. Kemp High School in Bryan, Texas with honors. He holds a B.S. Degree from Texas Southern University, with a major in Psychology and a minor in Philosophy. He started toward a major in Philosophy but had to change to psychology when the school no longer granted degrees in Philosophy. He holds a certificate in Pastoral Ministries from Southern Seminary and has done advance work at Southwestern Seminary. In these, his concentration was philosophy and ministry. He has completed a Master of Education in Administration at Texas Southern University. He holds a Master of Divinity from Houston Gradate School of Theology and a Doctorate of Ministries from Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. At Houston Graduate and Austin Presbyterian, the emphasis was on the philosophical implication of ministry as it is affected by today’s culture. He has done advance training at both Texas Southern University and Houston Graduate School of Theology in Counseling. He did an internship at Bellaire Columbia General in the Rapha Unit.. When Lightfoot moved to the north side of Houston, not many churches “really served a Black community.” A few people learned that Lightfoot was a minister and they founded Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church on 9318 Homestead Rd.
Church pioneer
Rev. Lightfoot also served on the Mayor’s Affirmative Action Committee and he served as chairperson of a Black Ministries Committee of the Union Baptist Association. He served as member of the Christian Life Commission of the Union Baptist Association. He also serves in many civic and community affairs. Rev. Lightfoot, in the month of January of 1988, had the distinguished honor of being the first Black minister (as a member of the convention) to address the Baptist General Convention of Texas – Evangelism Division to an attendance of over 20,000 persons. In January of 1992, he was guest preacher for the Mississippi Baptist State Evangelism Conference and delivered the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day sermon at Austin Presbyterian Seminary, his alma mater. On February 6, 2001, Rev. Lightfoot received from Prairie View A&M University’s Annual Ministers Conference the “Outstanding Minister” Award for exceptional leadership in the Church and the Community.
“He was a minister to this community, a minister to many of the community leaders and he has been a father to many of the kids here that didn’t have fathers,” his son continued. Lightfoot taught classes including Bible, family and psychology at TSU, LeTourneau University and Houston Community College. The pastor, who served the church for 44 years, died from multiple myeloma, a bone cancer he battled for 14 years. Family members surrounded the pastor when he died at M.D. Anderson Hospital. Edward Lightfoot said people will most remember his father by the smile he “always wore.” “Every time you saw him he made you feel better,” the son said. “We lost a great pastor, a great man and a great friend.” Survivors include his wife of 59 years, Velma Mitchell Lightfoot; seven children, Victor Edward Lightfoot, Alecia Lightfoot Caulfield, Keith Lightfoot, Timothy James Lightfoot, Deirdre Lightfoot White, Hope Lightfoot and Cassandra Lightfoot; eight grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.