Jerry D. Twentier
The year was 1956. The church was nondescript – a small brick structure on the corner of South Allen in a dusty West Texas town wherein started a lasting relationship for Jerry with God and his Bible. His mom was his very first Sunday school teacher. Gathered in a church basement room of cement floors and handmade wooden benches, Sunday School songs – Trust and Obey and Come into My Heart Lord Jesus were belted out by the little children. The songs were followed by Bible verse memorization and a flannel graph Bible story. Far from a grand setting, this humble beginning established a foundation that became the bedrock of Jerry’s life.
That church has long since been bulldozed and the lot sold, but the Word that was planted in his heart endured. The grass withered, and the flowers faded, but the Word of the Lord endured, and the scriptures committed to memory equipped him for every good work in his life.
The daily routine of his teenage years began with scripture memorization. While waiting for the school bus, mom would drill
him with scriptures. “Here O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord.” “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was God . . .” “The Lord is my shepherd. . . “ “Repent and be baptized every one of you . . .” That daily repetition established a solid footing for his life on the Word of God.
The Word served as a lamp to his feet and a light to his path as he navigated through college and career choices. Upon graduating from Texas Tech University, one of his early callings involved him in the writing/publishing process of the original Search for Truth Home Bible Study and Sunday school training materials. For the next 35+ years he was an educator, consultant, writer, motivational speaker and active in local and international public, private and corporate training environments.
Jerry was multi-talented and all-around creative. He was an accomplished pianist debuting his skills in that hometown church and later in Life Tabernacle, Houston. He sharpened his talents as an artist by painting baptismal murals for West Texas churches. He was a food sculptor – enhancing many special events with elaborate watermelon baskets, fish, pigs, swans, roses, and pineapple trees. He was a writer and author, publishing, and marketing two books. He was a most clever wordsmith and creative writer --- forever in demand whenever friend or family needed a presentation, political speech, or funeral eulogy --- Jerry was the man for the job.
He often said the best thing he ever did for himself that changed his life’s trajectory was to attend the Dale Carnegie Institute, “How to Win Friends and Influence People.” At his completion of the course, they hired him to mentor and coach potential instructor candidates, equipping them with necessary skills for conducting Dale Carnegie training thus winning him the “Top New Instructor of Year Award”.
But the grand finale of his life was GOSPEL – God’s Only Son Proclaims Eternal Life. It was his best work! It was the most difficult, intense, compelling, and extensive three-year project. He felt called to it! In 2017, Jerry made the commitment to devote all his spare time, resources and creative energy into the writing and development of this Apostolic home Bible study tool. He traveled to Israel, Italy, Greece, and Egypt studying biblical sites and prepping for the writing of this study. It consists of more than 350 full color animated slides with sound effects, music, narration, and original illustrations -- a study that can be viewed on any projector or digital device. Jerry’s goal was to make this tool available at no charge to all who want to share the GOSPEL and to eventually translate it into multiple dialects so that this good news could infiltrate all countries/nations.
Little did he know that upon completion of GOSPEL, just ahead was his divine relocation. In July 2021, as the last lesson was finalized, Jerry suffered through a two-month long illness which culminated in his death on September 30, 2021. Though it was a heavenly promotion, we grieve and the void in our family circle is forever present, but we have the blessed hope of meeting again. In the words of the old hymn, “if we never meet again this side of heaven – we will meet you on that beautiful shore.” Oh Jerry, how we look forward to that day!
“Then I heard a voice from heaven say, blessed are the dead who die in
the Lord. They will rest from their labor, for their deeds
will follow them.”
Revelation 14:13