George Washington Sheafor

Dr. George Washington Sheafor was a Baptist evangelist and pastor who lived during the years that the United States was growing, the population was moving westward, and new territories and states were being added. His teaching and preaching ministry spanned seventy-six years, beginning in 1892 through his death at age 96 in 1968. His pioneer ministry began in Arizona while it was still a territory. As a young man he worked on a ranch taming wild horses off the range and preached to some of the ranch hands with whom he worked. He attended Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, Illinois, and was mentored by Dwight L. Moody, the great evangelist of his day. He also studied the life and teachings of Andrew Murray and patterned his life after this great English teacher and preacher. He began preaching revival meetings in Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas. During his pastoral ministry, he served in Comanche and Brownwood, Texas; Lawton, Oklahoma; and in Lancaster, Texas. Dr. Sheafor's pastoral ministry changed in 1941 when he became a Bible teacher at the First Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas. His name is synonymous with the teaching of Bible prophecy. In all of his teaching and preaching, Dr. Sheafor majored on the wonderful promises that God has given to every born-again believer. He presented the joy and the glory to be experienced by every believer in the Rapture, the Second Coming of Jesus, and the New Heaven and New Earth. His wealth of knowledge concerning prophecy was inimitable and he was loved and admired by all who heard him speak, including many of the professors at Dallas Theological Seminary and Dr. W.A. Criswell, pastor of First Baptist Church, Dallas for all of the twenty-three years that Dr. Sheafor taught the class that now bears his name.