Church of God CHRONICLES by David G. Roebuck


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The Bishop of ‘Eneas Jumper Corner’


LTHOUGH SOME of the spe- cific details are lost to history, it is not hard to imagine the swirl of conflict in the heart of Wilmore V. Eneas when he arrived home the day his wife was healed. First, he must have felt relief and joy that Arabella was no longer sick. She had been suffering, but now she was well. Yet there might also have been some concern about her new friends and spiritual guides. These Pentecostals were new to the Bahamas. Their style of worship was demonstrative,


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invitation and offered to lay hands on her to pray for her healing.


Wilmore could not deny that Arabella was healed, and now she was also firmly committed to the Pen- tecostal gospel that one should be saved, sancti- fied, and filled with the Holy Ghost. Church of God ministers Edmond and Rebecca Barr had returned to Edmond’s homeland with the Pen-


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W. V. Eneas is standing third from right in front of “The Camp.” Bishop Eneas led the construction of the thatch-covered house of worship about 1915.


W. V. Eneas


and their doctrine did not line up with the Wesleyan Methodist Church he attended, or Bethel Baptist Church where Arabella played the organ.


an and th heiir do t ine id octrin did not it line upwiti h th he


Before that day, Arabella had not been well, but while sitting on her porch she heard preaching coming from the nearby street corner. It was an unfamiliar mes- sage, so she invited the ministers to come to her home and talk. They accepted her


tecostal message in November 1909, and they were joined a few weeks later by R. M. and Ida Evans. It is possible that Arabella Eneas was the first convert of the Barrs in the Bahamas.


te t costaltalmessaess ge in No N vembe 190 ber 09 and d


The Eneas family lived on Meadow Street in the Bain Town community of Nassau. Most of their neighbors were near the bottom of the social ladder. Although Wilmore’s formal education


had emerged as the local leader of the Church of God. In 1915, he led in building a thatch place of worship they called “The Camp.” About 1918, the congregation was able to build a more proper wooden church house. Out of derision for their enthusiastic worship, the townspeople called the Pentecostals “jumpers,” and they called the new location of the Church of God “Eneas Jumper Corner.” Wilmore soon became the first black Church of God bishop in the Bahamas, and he served as pastor of the local church, now the East Street Cathedral, until 1961. He was also appointed overseer of the Bahamas. Today the Eneas name continues to be well-respected. The home of Wilmore and Arabella is now the W. V. Eneas Clinic, a medical facility operated by their grand- daughter, Dr. Agreta Eneas-Carey. The Eneas legacy continues to bless the Bain Town community.


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David G. Roebuck, Ph.D., is director of the Dixon Pentecostal Research Center in Cleve- land, Tennessee.


EVANGEL | October 2010 19


was limited, he had worked hard to bet- ter himself and had gained some means and respect in the community. Perhaps unsure of this Pentecostal message at first, he could not doubt the change in Arabella’s life. He welcomed the Church of God min- isters, and the Eneas’ home became a ministry center in Bain Town until Wilmore was able to arrange a place for the emerging congregation to meet.


By the time the Barrs and Evanses returned to Florida, W. V. Eneas


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