A Tribute to a Faithful Pastor and Friend

JACK SHANKS

August 22, 1929 — April 7, 2012

I first met Bro. Jack Shanks in Memphis, Tennessee in 1972. I was a young preacher who had just begun the experience of being a pastor. Bro. Shanks was a seasoned veteran. We soon became friends and grew to be close friends. In the ensuing years we often preached together and for one another, corresponding regularly by mail and telephone, later by email on at least a weekly basis. This continued until it was no longer possible because of his ill health and subsequent confinement. He has only been gone for a few days; but I miss him greatly and have missed him for a long time.

Faithful Pastor

Bro. Jack was the faithful pastor of Laird Street Baptist Church in New Caney, Texas for thirty years. He preached the gospel of God’s free and sovereign grace with clarity and distinctiveness, exalting the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, ever urging sinners to trust his Redeemer, urging believers to honor him, and seeking to comfort God’s elect in the midst of temptation, trials, and heartache.

            Bro. Shanks was a gifted preacher and equally gifted as a writer. His excellent studies on The Tabernacle are included in the Ultimate Index Digital Library. He wrote, printed, and distributed numerous tracts and papers. His message was always the same — Christ crucified. And the message was always presented with learned simplicity. —    The members of Laird Street Baptist Church loved their pastor, honored him as their pastor, and cherish his memory.

Cherished Friend

I thank God for making Jack and Shirley Shanks a very intimate part of my life. Shelby and I cherish them and their friendship. Our daughter grew up knowing Bro. Shanks as a frequent guest in our home and loves him. After she was married, her husband quickly began to share that love. He often asked me about Jack and always beamed when he learned that Jack Shanks would be preaching at one of our conferences.

            That dear friend, more than twenty years my senior, was a constant source of encouragement to me. I never spoke to him, or received a letter from him, or even a brief note by email, without receiving a word of encouragement. When he was aware of something painful in my life, he was always a friend at hand.

            The Lord God says concerning his servants, “they shall see eye to eye” (Isaiah 52:8). That was certainly true with Jack and me. In all the years of our friendship and labor together in the cause of Christ, we never had a cross word between us. Doctrinally, we were twins.

            After many years of poor health and bodily pain, my friend is now with Christ in glory, forever freed from all sin, and sickness, and pain, and sorrow, and dying. I am honored, bettered, and give thanks to our God for the influence of Jack Shanks, his faithful servant and my cherished friend, in my life.

Don Fortner

Listen to sermons at FreeGraceRadio.com