AP: Texas

01/12/2005

Associated Press

The Rev. Jack Gray, professor emeritus of missions at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, has died. He was 89.

A memorial service was scheduled for 11 a.m. Thursday at Gambrell Street Baptist Church. Gray, who taught generations of students the power of prayer, died on Friday.

Gray had met with seminary students at 7 a.m. for prayer and helped spark periods of spiritual revival at the seminary for many years, said Roy Fish, Southwestern distinguished professor of evangelism.

"Jack led a lot of students to become people of prayer," said Fish. "He was a humble kind of man and one of the greatest men I've ever known."

Gray, while a seminary student, pastored many small churches. He accepted the offer to teach missions at Southwestern in 1956 when he was a pastor in St. Louis.

After retiring in 1984, taught one class with his former Southwestern roommate, Cal Guy, distinguished professor of missions emeritus, who had urged him to accept the Fort Worth professorship.

"Many students picked up spiritual awareness of the work of the Holy Spirit from Jack's classes that they had not heard anywhere else," Guy said in a prepared statement. "He had a deep spiritual life and left an impression on students around the world."

Born in Stratford, Okla., on Oct. 16, 1915, Gray received a bachelor's degree from Oklahoma's East Central State College, a master's from Southwestern and a doctorate in theology from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky.

Gray was ordained a minister in 1934, said his daughter, Noralyn Carpenter, music minister at Advent Lutheran Church in Arlington.

Completing his Southwestern studies in the 1940s, Gray enlisted as a Navy chaplain in World War II. He first worked among Seabees in the Aleutian Islands and later in the South Pacific aboard a Navy escort carrier. During sabbaticals from Southwestern, Gray studied missions in Brazil, Taiwan and Africa.

Among survivors are another daughter, Kristen Gray Desbien of Richmond, Va.; a brother, Morris Gray of Casper, Wyo.; and a granddaughter.

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Information from: Fort Worth Star-Telegram, http://www.star-telegram.com