Dr. Robert M. Lemmon

    In 1958 when Bobby Lemmon started operating the church's small multi-litho printing press at the age of fourteen, little did he know or ever imagine that ten years later he would be printing Bible portions and tracts as a ministry!

    Robert M. Lemmon, Jr., better known as Bobby or Bro. Bobby, was born September the 26th in Detroit, Michigan to Robert M. Lemmon, Sr. and Justine Harris Lemmon. Bobby's Dad, Bob, and his Mom were both saved at an early age and grew up in very good Christian homes in beautiful middle Tennessee. Bobby's grandparents on his Dad's side were old-time Methodists, while the Harris' were members of a small Baptist Church. After their marriage, Justine, Bobby's Mom, made a good Baptist out of her new husband. Bob and Justine moved to Detroit in 1942 at the invitation of one of Bob's brothers, John, who had just moved there with his wife, Myrtle looking for work in the defense plants. John, the oldest of the Lemmon boys, R.C., Bob and Roy had written home to Rover, TN and had told his brothers to come on up as there was plenty of employment. After arriving in Detroit, Bob was quick to find employment, and he and Justine became active in the Temple Baptist Church of Detroit. The pastor of this great church was the late Dr. J. Frank Norris who also pastored the First Baptist Church of Fort Worth, Texas at the same time. The Lord had already been working in Bob's heart before their move to Detroit, but it was probably at Temple where he surrendered to the Lord's call to the ministry. As Bob was considering a move to Fort Worth to attend Bible School, a major turn of events caused him to put that on hold for a while. Shortly after Bobby arrived, Bob received his draft notice and in a matter of a few weeks, he put Justine and Bobby on a bus back to Tennessee and answered his call to his serve his country in the U.S. Army.

    Bobby was only two years old when the family moved to Fort Worth so his Dad could enroll in the Bible Baptist Seminary. While a student in the seminary, Brother Bob Sr. became very active in the ministries of the First Baptist Church and joined Dr. Norris on staff full-time after his graduation from the seminary. In 1951, in answer to God's call to the pastorate, Bobby's Dad moved their family back to Tennessee where he started the first Independent Baptist Church in the city of Memphis. It started as the Victory Baptist Church; some years later the name was changed to the Faxon Avenue Baptist Church, where Brother Lemmon pastored until 1966. Bobby's personal testimony is, "I was saved at the age of ten under Dad's ministry through a message that he preached on Hell. Not wanting to go to that awful place and realizing for the first time that I was a sinner, I accepted Christ as my Saviour. Five years later at the age of fifteen, believing that God had a plan and a purpose for my life, I surrendered to His call to Christian service." Since fourteen years of age, Bobby had already been operating the church's Multi-lith printing press and by sixteen years of age he was leading the church's singing and directing the church choir. Bobby met his wife-to-be, Linda Frances Steele, at church on a Friday night, November the 17th, 1960 during a revival meeting when Linda attended with a friend who was a member of the church. After a two year courtship, Bobby and Linda were married on August the 3rd, 1962 after they graduated from high school. Bobby graduated from Memphis Tech where he had transferred in order to take a course in printing. While continuing his music and youth responsibilities and duties with the church, Bobby accepted a job offer from a local printing company where he worked for two years. God had wonderfully blessed the church, and in less than ten years of Brother Lemmon's pastorate there, the church was running over 300 in attendance. In addition to the Bible and Sunday School administration training that Bobby received from his Dad and Bro. Fred Bowen, the church's assistant pastor, Bobby, took extra high school courses in music and a special music course taught by Dr. Jerome Roberson, professor of music for the Second Presbyterian Church of Memphis. When Bro. Bowen left the church and moved back Texas in 1964, Bobby, at twenty-one years of age, was ordained and became the church's assistant pastor in addition to his other duties as music and youth director. Bobby explains, "By entering the doors of opportunity for Christian service that the Lord had given me, I naturally assumed that this would be my life's calling and ministry. In all honesty, I did not have a desire to ever pastor, but I was comfortable and happy with all of the other responsibilities which included running the church's small printing press. " 

    In 1966, due to a turn of unusual events and circumstances, Brother Bob Sr. did something that he had said that he would never do...he returned to Forth Worth, Texas to pastor. All of these years that he had pastored in Memphis, Bro. Bob's brother, John, had been pastoring in Forth Worth. In the fall of 1966 the brothers exchanged churches, and Bro. Bob became the pastor of the Hemphill Baptist Temple in Fort Worth. At his Dad's invitation, Bobby and Linda moved there to work with him at Hemphill in early 1967. A decision that defied logic at the time turned out to be another step in God's divine providence in preparation to what would soon be the beginning of Independent Baptist Churches printing the Word of God. Under the leadership of the pastor (his Dad) and shortly after his arrival in Ft. Worth, Bobby began printing newsletters and materials for the Bearing Precious Seed ministry that was already located in Ft. Worth. From this humble beginning, the Bible and Literature Missionary Foundation was founded on September 21st, 1968, and God's direction for brother Bob Sr. and Bobby would never be the same. In 1970, Brother Bob Sr. resigned the church and traveled for the next 39 years of his life raising funds and representing BLMF, challenging pastors and churches to get involved in the production and distribution of the printed Word of God. In its infancy, Bobby was the only printer until the work grew and increased in production. The ministry moved from Ft. Worth to Shelbyville in 1972, and from 1975 until 1982 Bobby worked both BLMF and the Scripture printing for the Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church of Oliver Springs, Tennessee.  By August the 30th of 2007, when Dr. Bob Lemmon when home to be with the Lord, the BLMF board of directors asked brother Bobby to become the BLMF Director. In honor of his 45 years in the ministry with 40 of those years printing and producing the Word of God, the Bethany Baptist College of Dothan, AL, bestowed an honorary Doctorate degree in "Sacred Letters" on Brother Robert (Bobby) Lemmon, Jr. in 2008.

    Because of the strong foundation that had been laid for this ministry by Dr. Bob Sr., the faithful financial support of its supporting churches, and the strong leadership of its nine member board of directors, the ministry has continued to grow with a record production expected for 2011. Brother Bobby and his wife Linda have four grown children and five grandchildren with a sixth one expected to arrive around the first of December 2011. Bobby's brother, Nathan and his wife Barbara live in Collierville, Tennessee and his sister, Angela and her husband Jackie live in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Brother Lemmon's mother, Justine, at 90 years of age, continues to serve as the ministry’s book keeper (a position that she has held for over thirty-five years). Brother Bobby and Linda have been members of the Victory Baptist Church of Shelbyville since 1982, where they had worked for 28 years in the Junior Church ministry until acquiring the responsibility of traveling for BLMF. At 68 years of age Bobby and Linda are still going at full speed!

    In conclusion Bobby would like to add, "We have to keep going and working until the Lord calls us home, till His return, or until everyone in the world has a copy of God's Word! We can't quit or slow down because we are debtors; we owe it to our Lord, to the people in these foreign countries who do not have Bibles, and to the people who contribute to pay for the paper and materials that we use to print Bibles. Fourthly, I have a very strong desire to see this ministry continue to grow in memory of the 39 years that Dad invested in it. I count it an honor to have been called to this ministry and to have the privilege to work with the wonderful pastors, churches, missionaries, BLMF workers and volunteers that God has given to us. God has been faithful, and we thank and praise Him all that He has done and is doing through this ministry. To God be the glory!"