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Photo by Jon Anderson
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Tony Cooper, the retiring executive director of the Jimmie Hale Mission in Birmingham, Alabama, gives a hug to Lyndsy Yim at the Hoover Area Chamber of Commerce luncheon at the Hoover Country Club on Thursday, Nov. 21, 2019.
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Photo by Jon Anderson
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Tony Cooper, the retiring executive director of the Jimmie Hale Mission in Birmingham, Alabama, speaks at the Hoover Area Chamber of Commerce luncheon at the Hoover Country Club on Thursday, Nov. 21, 2019.
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Photo by Jon Anderson
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Tony Cooper, the retiring executive director of the Jimmie Hale Mission in Birmingham, Alabama, chats with Hoover Area Chamber of Commerce board member Paul Huckeba at the chamber's luncheon at the Hoover Country Club on Thursday, Nov. 21, 2019.
Businesses often focus on a return on investment that is monetary, but for the Jimmie Hale Mission, the return on investment is changed lives, the retiring executive director of the organization told the Hoover Area Chamber of Commerce today.
Tony Cooper, who at the end of January will retire after 29 years of service to the organization that helps the homeless and hurting get back on their feet, said the best explanation of what the Jimmie Hale Mission does comes from its clients.
At the Hoover chamber luncheon at the Hoover Country Club today, he shared video testimonies from three people who were struggling with life and received help through the mission.
There was a man who went from being homeless to being a homeowner in 13 months with help from the Shepura Men’s Center.
There was a woman who struggled keeping a job from age 17 to 25 who ended up at the Jessie’s Place center for women and children, where she learned how to keep a job and learned hospitality and management skills. After 15 years with a steady job, she now has her own business.
And there was a man who got discharged from the military as he battled drug addiction who went through half a dozen overdoses and two suicide attempts. He said he believed his addiction was incurable, but during a nine-month stay at the Royal Pines recovery center in Hayden, he had an amazing encounter with Jesus and now God has blessed him with freedom from addiction and a prosperous construction business.
“The life I never dreamed I could have … I have it, experiencing joy, experiencing peace and stability,” the man said in the video.
Those testimonies are what the Jimmie Hale Mission is all about, Cooper said.
“We’re trying to get people back to God, then back to life, then back to work,” he said. “We share the gospel message of new life and hope … When you partner with us, you’re investing in the lives of the less fortunate.”
The Jimmie Hale Mission, which is celebrating its 75th anniversary, is not a business that conducts ministry, Cooper said. “We’re a ministry that operates in a businesslike manner.”
The ministry has survived for so long because of God’s blessing, God’s favor, God’s provision and their faithfulness in following God’s direction, he said.
“We celebrate God’s goodness, but we appreciate those who have come alongside of us to help us,” he said, referencing the many volunteers, donors and staff members who work with the mission.
“I’m not very smart, but I’m smart enough to hire people smarter than me,” Cooper said. “We have a good staff that works together to form the ministry we have.”
Cooper, who turns 70 in January, said he realized it was time for him to retire and turn the reins over to someone else.
The board of directors chose Michael Coleman to become the mission’s fourth executive director. Coleman has spent the past eight years as executive director for Hope Inspired Ministries, a nonprofit he founded in Montgomery. He began his new duties with the Jimmie Hale Mission on Nov. 4. Cooper said he helping Coleman transition into his new role and will officially move off the payroll at the end of January.
The mission is in good hands with Coleman, he said.
As for himself, he will join his wife, Dale, who recently retired as the mission’s director of administration. As someone with a Type A personality, he’s looking for something else to do and waiting on God to show him what that is, he said.
Hoover chamber members gave Cooper a standing ovation after his speech today.
The Jimmie Hale Mission operates the Shepura Men’s Center and Jessie’s Place shelter for women and children in downtown Birmingham, the Royal Pines recovery center in Hayden, three learning centers, and the Discovery Club after-school Bible clubs at schools.
For more information, visit jimmiehalemission.com.
