​G.B. and Ruth

Shelburne

Mission Work

Bible Teaching

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In Loving Memory—
G.B. Shelburne, Jr. was born on Jan. 15, 1913, in Runnels County, near Hatchel, Texas, the oldest of four children born to George and Velma Shelburne.

He was graduated from high school in Stanton, Texas, and was valedictorian of his 1935 class at Abilene Christian University. While there he edited the campus newspaper, "The Optimist," led a winning debate team, and broadcast sports events for a local radio station. By this time he had already begun what turned into an almost 70-year career as a gospel preacher.

June 15, 1934, he married Wilma Jean Key at Robert Lee, Texas. Their union was blessed with the birth of five children: G.B. III (“B.”), Gene Paul, Ruth Ann, Curtis Kline and James Leonard (“Jim”). All the boys became ministers and Ruth Ann became an educator and social worker. Wilma Jean preceded G.B. in death in 1992. Ruth Ann passed away in 2007.

While preaching for various West Texas congregations on week¬ends and holding revivals during the summer months, Shelburne taught high school Spanish for a year in Oplin, Texas, before entering full-time ministry. Because of his fluency in the Spanish language, he enjoyed training Spanish-speaking church leaders and preachers even into his final years.
During his early years of ministry, he helped plant congregations of the Church of Christ in San Angelo and in Corpus Christi, Texas. On three different occasions he also served as minister to three Abilene, Texas, congregations.

In the fall of 1946 he moved his family to Kerrville, Texas, where he began training preachers and church leaders in a new school that was called the Kerrville Bible Training Work. In 1953 the leadership school moved to Amarillo, Texas, where he administered it and served on the ministerial staff for the West Amarillo Church of Christ.

He moved the church leadership school in 1975 to Houston, where it became known as the South Houston Bible Institute. He retired from full-time administration of the school in 1980, but continued serving as an instructor and as an active member of its board of directors until the time of his death.

During his long ministry Shelburne held hundreds of seminars and revivals all over America, and in Mexico and Africa. He helped establish an extraordinarily successful mission effort at Namikango Mission in Malawi, where his oldest son B. served as a missionary for 19 years. Shelburne became known for his devotion to God’s word, his respect for others, and his love of Christian unity.

In 1936 Shelburne began to publish a monthly news and teaching journal known as Gospel Tidings. He gave up the editorship in 1956, but the magazine is still published and circulated worldwide today.

Shortly before her death, Shelburne and his wife Wilma coauthored A Providential Journey, detailing significant events and trends during their more than 60 years of ministry together. Shelburne also wrote hundreds of journal articles.

On Sept. 16, 1993, during their Annual Preaching Lectureship, the College of Biblical Studies at Abilene Christian University honored Shelburne along with two other veteran preachers for faithful min¬stries exceeding 60 years each.

Although Shelburne officially retired in 1983 as a teacher and minister for the Main Street Church of Christ he remained active in a leadership role, serving 10 more years as an elder of that church. During this time he also served on the board of the Church of Christ chaplaincy program at the Houston Medical Center.

He played an active role in organizing and conducting the Old Settlers' Reunions for Martin County.

On May 30, 1993, he married Gwendolene Peacock. They enjoyed happy years together.

G.B. Shelburne, Jr., died Jan.9, 2000, in Pasadena, Texas, after a massive heart attack, two weeks from the day he preached his last gospel sermon, and one week shy of 87 years old. He was buried beside Wilma in Paint Creek Cemetery west of Robert Lee, Texas, just a quarter mile from the spot where Wilma was born. The epitaph on their gravestone reads, “Workers together with God.”