Rev. Jerry R. Ensey

Jerry R. Ensey was born in a one-room log cabin near Hugo, Oklahoma, in 1938. He was converted and received the baptism of the Holy Ghost in August 1955 in Vernon, Texas. He began preaching the following January, and from 1957 through 1960 he evangelized in Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Oklahoma. He married Roffie Oliver on April 12, 1960, and she traveled with him for the rest of that year. They would eventually have one son, Randy, and a daughter, Deborah.

In 1961 they planted a new church in Greensboro, North Carolina, and it grew to around 125 by 1963. The next year they bought land and built a beautiful new brick church with seating for 250, classrooms, and living quarters. By 1964 the church was self-supporting, and Jerry resigned as pastor in December.

In 1965 he began working with the Home Missions Division (now North American Missions) on a part-time basis as the coordinator of the evangelism commission. In 1967 he was appointed as secretary of the general Home Missions Division (now North American Missions). In that role he helped C. H. Yadon and J. T. Pugh inaugurate Christmas for Christ and several other programs. He also founded and edited the magazines Outreach, The Insider, and Forward.

He also organized the Public Relations Department in 1972 and served as public relations director of the UPCI, coordinating media relations at General Conferences and communicating with politicians in Washington. He wrote and published The Story of the UPCI, which pastors presented to prominent leaders of their communities.

In 1974 he assumed the pastorate of Apostolic Tabernacle in Texarkana, Arkansas. Beginning in 1976 he served for two years as vice president of Texas Bible College (TBC) under the presidencies of E. L. Holley and C. E. Lott. In 1978 he accepted the pastorate of Life Tabernacle in Wichita Falls, Texas. While he was there, the congregation purchased property and built a new church facility.

In 1982 he was called back to TBC where he served as president for fourteen years. While there, he launched a fourth-year program called The Center for Advanced Pastoral Studies (CAPS), established an annual Pastor’s Institute, began the ExCeLL (Extension Centers for Learning on Location) program, and wrote a number of new college courses. He was able to help TBC purchase and pay for property to build a new campus near Houston. One building was constructed on that site before the college was moved to Lufkin. He retired from the college in 1996 and moved to Willis, Texas, to assist his son who was founding a church in Conroe, Texas. For the next ten years, he continued to direct and expand the ExCeLL extension program for TBC.

J. R. Ensey founded and served as president of the Institute of Soteric Counseling, which promoted Christian counseling from Scripture and conducted annual counseling conferences for ten years. He also founded and presided over the Apostolic Theological Forum, which met annually for the presentation of papers by scholars on topics related to our Apostolic identity. He has authored many books, including two on the history of the Bible, and he founded Advance Ministries in 1997 as a publishing arm for his writings. For several years, he published The Apostolic Christian’s Library Builder and Inspirational Journal—a full color thirty-two-page magazine.

J. R. Ensey has served on many committees and boards within the UPCI. He also has ministered extensively outside North America, including in countries such as Argentina, Italy, and Ethiopia. Participating in an archaeological dig on Mount Ebal in Israel, at the site of Joshua's altar, is a personal highlight. He earned his ThB at Texas Bible College and has been awarded two other non-traditional degrees.

He is still active in teaching the Full Life Bible Class at Living Way Church in Conroe, Texas, and ministering in various venues. In 2020, he and Roffie will celebrate sixty years of marriage.