Joe Weideman Armour Jr., who retired from First Baptist Church Tuscaloosa at the end of 2024, died July 4 following a brief illness. He was 72.
A native of Memphis, Tennessee, he was raised on a dairy farm in Cayce, Mississippi.
Armour accepted Christ as his Savior at age 10, but a two-week revival in 1970 at Forest Hill Baptist Church in Germantown, Tennessee, was a turning point in his spiritual life.
He received bachelor’s and master’s degrees in agronomy from Mississippi State University, where he was also a cheerleader, school mascot and involved in Phi Kappa Tau and Baptist Student Union.
He also served and lived at Palmer Home for Children while completing his master’s degree.
He was an extension agent in Arkansas and Mississippi before he was called into ministry. He earned a master of divinity and master of religious education degrees from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. While in seminary, he served as the Baptist Student Union director at the University of Texas at Dallas and was actively involved at Wedgewood Baptist Church, University Baptist Church and Travis Avenue Baptist Church.
He served churches for nearly four decades: First Baptist Church Tupelo, Mississippi (1987–1993), FBC Clinton, Mississippi (1993–1997), FBC Mount Washington, Kentucky (1997–2000), Forest Hills Baptist Church in Nashville, Tennessee (2001–2006), and FBC Tuscaloosa, Alabama (2006–2024).
He is survived by his wife of 40 years, Lynn Bell Armour; his sons, Joseph Armour and Harrison Armour; his daughter, Jane Frances Armour; and one granddaughter.
Memorial gifts may be sent to FBC Tuscaloosa, the New Salem Cemetery Corporation, the Tuscaloosa County Baptist Association’s building project “The Center,” Good Samaritan Clinic, Community Soup Bowl or to another Christian ministry.
Share with others: