Homage to the Life of a Servant – Dr. Jack Evans, Sr.
“We know nothing of tomorrow …for life is like the wisp of a vapor, which is caught up by the wind, and quickly carried away.”
James 4:14
The brevity of one’s life is certain …and it is during the flash of the fallacy of this thing we call time …that for a brief moment, our souls cross paths with the souls of others …then, it seems as suddenly as they appeared, they vanish from our sight. It is how that brief moment is spent, that ultimately determines how we are remembered.
It is a rare occurrence, to be blessed to have our path intersect with the path of a person, whose spirit has received an exceptional gift from God …A person whose very essence possesses its own extraordinary uniqueness …For long after the vapor of such a person has vanished from our eyes …the quintessence of their spirit lingers in the air …intoxicating our hearts and our minds with the odor of its brilliance and its strength …leaving the illumination of its scent on every life it has touched.
Jack Evans, Sr. embodied this extraordinary gift …and he lived such a life.
On Friday, November 1, 2019, at the dawning of the new day, Dr. Jack Evans, Sr. discarded his robe of corruptible flesh and transitioned into that which is incorruptible.
Dr. Evans was a native of Houston, Texas. He was baptized into the Church of Christ in 1953 at the age of fifteen and answered the call to preach God’s Word one year later, at the age of sixteen. After attending public school in Houston for nine years, he transferred to the Nashville Christian Institute in Nashville, Tennessee, of which the eminent Marshall Keeble was president. He graduated in 1957, and then enrolled in Southwestern Christian College, in Terrell, Texas. While studying at Southwestern Christian College, he served as the Associate Minister of the College Church of Christ.
After graduating from Southwestern Christian College, he married the one and only love of his life, Patricia E. Officer, and the two relocated to New Mexico, where he enrolled in Eastern New Mexico University in Portales, NM, majoring in History and Religion. While living in NM, he preached for a small congregation in Hale Center, TX, until his graduation in 1961. Upon graduation from this university he began graduate work in History and English at the University of Texas at El Paso (Texas Western College at the time), in 1961, receiving his M.A. degree in 1963. His M.A. thesis was entitled “The History of Southwestern Christian College of Terrell, Texas.” He was minister of the Cebada Street Church of Christ in El Paso while attending the university. By this time the couple had been blessed with two sons, Jack, Jr. and Herbert Raye.
In 1963, the young family returned to Texas, where Dr. Evans served a brief tenure as Minister of the Vickery Boulevard Church of Christ in Fort Worth, TX. During this time he was also appointed Dean of his beloved alma mater, Southwestern Christian College. He served in this capacity and as an instructor in History for four years, from 1963 to 1967.
In 1967 he was appointed President of Southwestern Christian College; becoming the first black president of the only predominantly black Christian college among Churches of Christ. He served as President of SwCC for an unprecedented 50 years with the college earning its accreditation under his administration in 1973. He retired from his position as President, in January, 2017. Under the leadership and guidance of Dr. Jack Evans, Sr., Southwestern Christian College, not only became fully accredited, it also maintained that accreditation and experienced extraordinary growth and success during his tenure.
Dr. Evans had conferred upon him the Doctor of Laws (LL.D) degrees by Harding University, Pepperdine University, and Abilene Christian University. He is listed in Who’s Who in American College University Administration and Who’s Who in Texas Today. He was a former member of the Board of Directors of David Lipscomb University.
Dr. Jack Evans, Sr. has spoken on all of the major lectureships of Christian Colleges and in special seminars and meetings on other college campuses. For more than 60 years Dr. Evans conducted gospel meetings and crusades in Churches of Christ throughout this nation, and abroad. He will also be remembered as a notoriously uncompromising warrior by the opponents he challenged in numerous religious debates.
He was the author/editor of the Evans-Barr Debate, The Curing of Ham, The Cross or the Crescent?, Sermons that Save, Sinai or Sion?, The Two Covenants, And They Shall Speak With New Tongues?, “Fire It Up…” Again!, Farrakhan: Million-Man Manipulator, Christian Response to the Muslim Challenge, Amen, Walls!, Status of Women in Islam, Whose Idea is This?, So What’s the Big Issue?, Somebody Ought to Say Something, and co-author with Dr. James Maxwell of Divorce and Remarriage, and with G. P. Holt of Sermons of the Crusades. Before the decline of his health, Dr. Evans had begun to write his final book, his personal memoir, entitled, “Strength for the Journey”.
Dr. Jack Evans, Sr. joins in rest, his beloved sweetheart of 60 years, Patricia O. Evans, his Mother, Grace “Dear” Evans and his Father Theodore Evans. He leaves to carry on his legacy, his three sons: Jack, Jr., Herbert Raye, and David Paul, and his adored daughter (in-law) Vicky. He leaves to mourn his passing, four grandchildren: Jack III, Brandon, Dajanette, and Damonique, and five great-grandchildren; three brothers: Reginald Evans, (Erma, wife) and Donald Ray Evans and Gale Evans, and a great host of nieces, nephews, and extended family and friends.
Dr. Jack Evans, Sr. was …a mesmerizingly, majestic MAN …a powerful and prolific PREACHER …and a gallant guardian of Southwestern Christian College …His departure will be felt by the thousands of lives he has touched, around the world. The impact that his life has made through his preaching, his writing, and the five decades of work at his beloved Southwestern Christian College will never fade from our hearts and will be passed on to generations not yet born.
Dr. Jack Evans, Sr. has fought a good fight …he has finished his course …and he has kept the faith. He can now lay down his sword and shield …and rest in peace …knowing that his work has not been in vain and that his legacy will live on.
~VLE
