James Schoenrock and His Amazing Memory

James Schoenrock’s life story is full of names, dates, places, and events that he has no trouble recalling at the age of 85. His memory is remarkable. In the mid-70s, he and his family began attending my church, Antioch in Conway, Arkansas, but I had no idea he was director of Missions (now BMA Global) during that time but likely wouldn’t have understood what that meant anyway. I just knew he was gone a lot. Decades later I would understand why.  

The following article was published in 2021 by  Baptist Progress, and I’m grateful for this comprehensive profile of a man I now consider a friend.

Few preachers have been more miles and served in wider scopes in 75 years of ministry in God’s kingdom than James Schoenrock. In addition to his eleven pastorates spanning over sixty years, Schoenrock was the first full time ABS (Association of Baptist Students) director at Southern Arkansas University in Magnolia, Arkansas, taught extension courses for BMA seminary, and served as Missions (now BMA Global) director for nine years. 

James Vestal Schoenrock was born in Whitharral, Texas, in 1937 where both his parents were raised. The Baptists and Methodists there alternated Sundays in a church building: James’s father was Methodist, his mother Baptist. Helmer Alec Schoenrock was a sharecropper, and by the time their four children (James, Joyce, Helen, and John) came along, they were attending Fifth Street in Levelland, Texas. 

Helmer Schoenrock surrendered to ministry in 1945 and moved his family to Jacksonville, Texas, where he enrolled at Jacksonville College then accepted a pastorate in Mabank, Texas, where James was saved and baptized. In the years to come, the elder Schoenrock pastored churches in Odessa, Seminole, Winters and Grand Saline. 

In 1949, at the age of twelve, James surrendered to preach while his father was pastoring First in Grand Saline, Texas. Brother Charlie Hall was preaching a revival when Schoenrock preached his first message: “The Broad Way and the Narrow Way.” 

Schoenrock  graduated from Odessa High School in 1956, attended Odessa Junior College, and transferred to Jacksonville College where he met Wilma Seago. They were married in 1958, then he was was ordained by First at Jacksonville, Texas, the same church that had ordained his father a few years earlier. His first pastorate was at Opelika, followed by Macedonia at Etoile. 

One of the highlights of pastoring at Etoile, he says, came during a revival  Harold (Smiley) Burns was preaching and Jerry Burnaman came forward on profession of faith. Schoenrock baptized him that week and not long  after, Jerry Burnaman (former BMA missions director) surrendered his life to ministry. 

He graduated from Stephen F. Austin in 1960 then was called to pastor at Bethel in Clayton. During that time, he and John W. Duggar carpooled to BMA Seminary on Tuesdays and Thursdays while Schoenrock worked at JCPenney in Nacogdoches and Duggar at Safeway Foods in Jacksonville. A three-time graduate of BMA Seminary, he earned a master’s degree and two bachelor of divinity degrees.  Schoenrock taught on campus at BMA Seminary, an extension course at New Hope in Mineola, and at Columbia Bible College in Arkansas, where he also served as Columbia’s president after the death of E.B Jones.

Clearly, he places a high value on Christian education.

Before he became the BMA’s assistant missions director for Bro. Craig Branham, he pastored College View in Magnolia, Arkansas, First at Red Oak, and Central at Lubbock. After Branham’s resignation two years later, Schoenrock became executive director in 1979. 

One of his first assignments was to fly around the world visiting mission fields. Branham told him he had to get acquainted with our missions at home and abroad, so he took a one-month trip around the globe—three weeks with Burnaham, then two weeks on his own. 

Schoenrock remembers details of his mission field experiences like a trip to Australia with Lynn Stevens when he was stranded in Hong Kong for five days after the Taiwan flight was canceled and with no way to contact anyone about his location. He also remembers traveling the hills of Mexico with Buddy Johnson and crossing streams in the Philippines and tries to stay in touch with retired missionaries and their widows. 

Two years after he began serving at the missions office, the BMA elected him as director. His associates were Don Collins (interstate missions director) and Jerry Kidd (foreign missions director). After nine years of serving as BMA missions director, he stepped down to pastor Wakefield Baptist Church in Little Rock. Later he pastored at First in Springhill, Louisiana, then Calvary at Mesquite, and now Sheppards Drive in Euless, where he has served twenty years. 

In addition to his time on the mission field, teaching students, and pastoring, Schoenrock has held many leadership positions in the BMA work including serving as BMA America and BMA Texas moderator and parliamentarian of both Texas and national BMA associations. He also served on the BMA Global (formerly BMA Missions) advisory board for two decades. In 2021, Schoenrock was presented the Jacksonville College Distinguished Alumni Award.

James Schoenrock loves people, remembers their names, and shows genuine interest in their stories. His numerous relationships and knowledge of people keep him busy preaching the funerals of his friends, co-ministry workers, and church members like John and Harriet Elliot, M.S. Arrington, Craig Branham, and Jerry Burnaman. 

Shoenrock’s profile would not be complete without mentioning his family. 

The Lord blessed him and Wilma with three children: David, Tammie (Davis), and Randy, whom the Lord called home on January 14, 2021.

When I began serving at the BMA Global Missions Center ten years ago, he called me by name at a conference and told me he had been reading my articles. I hadn’t seen him in years, but he remembered my maiden name and other details. Our conversations always conclude with a hug. His interest in me and his encouragement are a blessing.

James Schoenrock says, “People want you to know about them, and the more you know about them, the better equipped you are to minister to them.” His life reflects his own advice.