Rev. James G. Lumpkin

United Pentecostal Church International

1929 ~ 2007

Rev. James G. Lumpkin was born on October 26, 1929, in Columbus, Georgia. The little mother who gathered the newborn baby boy close to her heart knew that he would be great. She knew that she would teach him to love God. She knew their hearts were irrevocably bound together until death. But what she could not know was how hard the road to manhood would be for him. She had no idea of the hurt the little 7 year old would endure as he watched his friends interact with their fathers, knowing that his father had chosen a different road...one that led him away from him, his dear mother, and his big sister. She had no idea how trying the road ahead would be for her as she, a single mother, endeavored to teach her two children that beauty and God and love really DO exist in spite of the unfairness of life.

That special mother poured into that little boy all the goodness that was in her heart and soul. She trained him up in the way he should go and prayed earnestly that he would find a special partner in life, one who would share in his good and his quest for life's best. He met that partner as a young soldier. She was beautiful and he knew his heart was gone forever. On August 13, 1949, James G. Lumpkin  Sr. brought Jean Rosebraugh home with him for good.

Althouigh the Lumpkin-Rosebraugh union was a major milestone in the life of the Lumpkin family, the most important event occured in the spring of 1951, in Sherman, Texas. The union that began on a dance floor was eternallt sanctified as the Spirit of the holy Ghost entered the lives of the young couple. The course of the little boy from Georgia was forever altered.

He immediately bfelt that there was a special call from the Lord on his life. Brother Joe Lane, his pastor from Montgomery, Alabama, had a profound impact upon his new life and his decisions; and in 1956, James and Jean moved with their family, which now included Jim Jr. and Mickey to St. Paul, Minnesota for him to attend Apostolic bible Institute. He graduated from there in 1959, and became a member of the school faculty for one year. In 1960, he assumed the pastorate of his foirst church in Knoxville, Iowa. While he was pastoring there, the secind Lumpkin daughter, Tanya, was born.

James Lumpkin returned to his alma mater again to serve on the faculty of ABI from 1964 to 1965. The following year, in St. Louis, MO., he became Promotional Director of the Harvestime Radio Broadcast, a position he held for one year. He then became Director of the Harvestime Radio Broadcast, a position he held for four years. In 1969, he began pastoring in Fort Smith, Arkansas, a role he filled until 1984. In 1974, he was elected the District Superintendent of the Arkansas District and was an exemplary lreader of that state until 1996. He was founder of Northside Christian Academy in Fort Smith in 1978, and received the national Accelerated Christian Education "Sword of the Spirit" award in 1979.

Brother Lumpkin served as a member of the Executive Board of the UPCI, and as Chairman Pro Tem of the Budget Committee of the UPCI. For more than 25 years, he served annually as the Captain of the Tabulating Committee for the General Conference of the UPCI. He has also served on the Board of Directors of the Lighthouse Ranch for Boys and as Chaplain of the Arkansas State Police.

After a beautiful life in the ministry that touched so many lives, God called Brother James G. Lumpkin to his eternal rest on April 17, 2007.