Jerome Cooper, 68 of Alexander, passed away Sept. 22. He was a member of the Collective Church in Bryant.
Bro. Cooper surrendered to ministry July 31, 1974, at Park Avenue Baptist Church in Searcy, where his father, the late H.D. Cooper was pastor, and was ordained there on Feb. 5, 1976.
Bro. Cooper was a 1977 graduate of Central Baptist College, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Bible with a minor in Religious Education. He was elected president of the Junior/Senior class at CBC in 1975. He then received his master’s degree at the Baptist Missionary Association Theological Seminary in Jacksonville, Texas.
He served in many roles as a pastor and staff member, including serving as youth director at the Pleasant Valley Baptist Church at Greenbrier, director of youth and music at Bradford Baptist Church in Bradford, interim pastor and assistant to the pastor as minister of youth and education at Park View Baptist Church in North Little Rock and pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Sikeston, Mo. and Trinity Baptist Church in Florissant, Mo. The last 18 years of his ministry, he served as minister of music and education at Immanuel Baptist Church in Nashville. He also served as editor of The Missouri Missionary Baptist.
In January 1990, Bro. Cooper began working as the first special assignments editor for Baptist Publishing House (BPH). When BPH reorganized as DiscipleGuide, he served as the director of publishing. He served in this ministry for 25 years. He was also the editing manager for the development of the DiscipleWay material. He served as recording secretary for BMA of America from 2009 until his death. He was also currently serving on the Publications Committee for the BMA of Arkansas.
Survivors include: his wife of 47 years, Peggy Cooper; his mother, Sarah Alice (Yerby) Cooper; two daughters, Sarah Lyn Cooper (Robert Ellison) and Jessica (Jeremy) McGinty; two sisters, Camellia Lewis and Jeanine Miller; and two grandsons.
A celebration of life will be held at Collective Church of Bryant on Friday, Sept. 29, at 2 p.m., and a visitation will start one hour prior to the service. Arrangements are under the direction of Roller-Alcoa Funeral Home (rollerfuneralhomes.com).
