Jack Kenyon

Through many dangers, toils, and snares, I have already come.‘Twas grace that brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home. Jack Kenyon Jr. was born on May 3, 1934, in a small town near Ardmore, Oklahoma.The second of four sons of Mr. Jack Kenyon Sr. and his wife, Ida Marrell Kenyon, Jack spent most of his formative years of life in Dallas, Texas. His father had moved the family and begun to pursue various business interests in the DFW area, as well as in other parts of the country. Jack Sr. became a very successful businessman, and his son inherited much of his work ethic and skill. From a young age, Jack Jr. began to assist his father part-time in his business endeavors.This turned into a full-time venture after he graduated from Highland Park High School, and after a few years at both Texas A&M University and Southern Methodist University.He met his wife, Margaret Whitley, while they attended Highland Park High School.They would later be married on September 3, 1954.Jack had a passion for flying.He became a private pilot for small twin engine Cessna and Comanche airplanes and later became a flight instructor for those aircraft as well. Jack started a furniture store which became a very lucrative business for him, and a very important setting in his life, as well as for Maranatha Full Gospel Church.In 1978, Jack hired an immigrant preacher named Pastor Bethel P. Jacob to oversee the accounting and financial side of Jack’s Furniture.Pastor Jacob worked for Jack, leaving after a few years only to enter into full time ministry.Thus began a relationship that lasted forty years.Through a series of events and personal tragedies, God brought these two men together.Pastor Jacob would in due time share the Gospel with Jack, leading him to the Lord Jesus Christ.Jack accepted Jesus Christ as his personal Lord and Savior in 1980; later that year, he would be baptized in water in Lake Ray Hubbard in Garland, Texas – the first time that a water baptism service was conducted in a public lake in the history of the Maranatha Full Gospel Church in Dallas.He later received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit with the initial evidence of speaking in other tongues. He became a member of Maranatha Full Gospel Church and has served faithfully in the church from that time until his passing on Tuesday, April 18, 2017.Although he did not know it at the time, Jack’s association with this church would prepare the organization for changes and innovations which at that time were unheard of.Multilingual worship services, live translation for the messages, dedicated services for other ethnic groups – all these features are in many ways a result of Jack’s presence in the church, and one of the main reasons that those changes have endured. Jack was good-hearted, a humble man of love and was an example of I Corinthians 13 – kind, not envious, not boastful, not selfish and not easily angered; he kept no record of wrongs nor took delight in evil but rejoiced with the truth; always protecting, always trusting, always hopeful, always persevering.Through the long history of the Maranatha Full Gospel Church over the last 40 years, in every moment of triumph or tragedy, sorrow or celebration, defeat or victory, Jack Kenyon Jr. was there to be as helpful and supportive as he could be, and to share the experiences of each moment and to fulfill God’s Great Commission.He had a tremendous impact on many a life in the Maranatha church family in Dallas, Houston, Frisco, and Louisiana, as well as on many countless thousands in India who never even met him. Jack leaves behind his wife, Margaret; his sister-in-law, Annette Whitley; his brother, Jimmy Kenyon and his family; and many nephews and nieces… and a grieving, but very grateful, Maranatha Full Gospel Church.