Horace Jackson

On May 29, 1939, Horace Jackson was born to Clarence Clifton Jackson and Nellie Adams Jackson in Chase, Louisiana. He grew up mostly in the southern Mississippi area.

He met the love of his life, Kay Jewel Terry, the daughter of Duel Melvin Terry and Rosalie Price Terry from Columbia, Mississippi. In 1956, Kay received the Holy Ghost in Columbia. Charles E. Killingsworth was the pastor, and Jean Holland Roberts was preaching the revival.

Wedding bells began to ring, and on March 19, 1960, Horace and Kay were married. They continued to attend church, but Horace had not received the Holy Ghost at that time.

Horace and Kay moved to Moss Point and began attending the Pentecostal Church pastored by Tom Marshall. In 1965, Horace received the Holy Ghost at Moss Point and began his dedicated walk with God. Because of his love for God and his desire to tell others, God called Horace into the ministry. He accepted the call in 1967 and received a Local License in 1968 with the UPCI.

From 1971 to 1973, he attended Texas Bible College in Houston, Texas, under E.L. Holley, President. While attending TBC, he was assistant pastor to Elroy Johnson at Pearland, Texas.

After moving back to Mississippi, Lee J. Edwards, Mississippi District Superintendent, encouraged them to go to Grenada as they were without a pastor. The church elected them pastor of the Grenada UPC in 1975. While serving as pastor, he purchased seven acres of land on Highway 8 east and relocated the church from East End Circle to the new property - the present location. While serving in Grenada, Horace served as Sunday School Secretary of Section Three for two years. He received his Ordination in 1978. They resigned from the church in Grenada in 1983.

Shortly after leaving Grenada, the church elected the Jacksons as pastor at Cherry Chapel UPC. While serving as the pastor, they started an ACE Christian School. They resigned from Cherry Chapel in 1987. They were immediately elected to serve as pastor to Walnut UPC and remained there until they resigned in 1990. While serving in Walnut, he served as Section One Secretary for two years

Horace Jackson was a superb carpenter. Jerome Bourn was building a new church facility in Houston, Texas, and requested the Jacksons to help build the new Houston South facility. They assisted Jerome Bourn from 1990-1992.
They moved back to Mississippi, and the church at New Bethel, Jayess, Mississippi, requested Horace's help with the new church building under construction. While working at New Bethel in 1993, G.R. Travis, Mississippi District Superintendent, approached the Jacksons about moving to the Mississippi District Campground and working for the district, and they accepted the offer. Horace worked in the maintenance and upkeep of the property, and Kay, his wife, became the Office Assistant in the district office.

They served the district under four District Superintendents: G.R. Travis, James Carney, James Sandy, David Tipton, and one District Secretary, James F. Nations.

In 2001, while working at the Mississippi Campgrounds, they were elected as the Raymond UPC pastor and served for three years.

In 2013, they both retired from the Mississippi District and moved to Amory. In 2015, they moved to Olive Branch in their motor home and began working on the home mission church under construction by their grandson, Ryan Vanderford. They renovated a commercial building to establish a new facility, which is presently a self-supporting church.

Through these years, helping build new churches has been their passion. They helped build churches in Columbia, Nesbit, McComb, Waveland, Gautier, Jayess, Houston, Pine Grove/Foxworth, Bruce, and Kosciusko.

They call themselves retired, but very often, they will answer the call to preach on weekends.

James F. Nations remarked, “The Nations love the Jacksons, and we have been blessed beyond measure for having been acquainted with such great friends.”