Arkansas-Louisiana Conference President, 1966-1974
His Early Years
Ewing Frank Sherrill was born with blue eyes and light brown hair, into an Adventist home on April 30, 1923, in Mt. Pleasant, Izard County, Arkansas. His family were Charles Edgar and Myrtle (Shaw) Sherrill, and a four-year-old sister, Eula Margaret (Ancestry, 2019). Frank’s grandparents had become Seventh-day Adventists as a result of a colporteur staying in their home and leaving them a copy of Bible Readings for the Home Circle (Beeler, 1996). Frank’s family moved to Jefferson, Texas, when he was about ten or eleven years old. When Frank was ready for college he attended Southwestern Junior College. When he graduated from there he completed his college education at Union College. It was here that he met Joy Hargrove and they were married June 4, 1944. Frank graduated from Union College in 1945, working his way through school in a broom factory (Ancestry, 2019).
Years of Ministry
After graduation, Frank and Joy headed to Corpus Christi where Frank served as a pastor and the principal of the church school. The Sherrill’s first son, Charles Edgar, was born in Corpus Christi in March 1946. In 1948 the Sherrills moved to pastor the church in Beaumont, Texas. Their their second son, Reginald Robert, was born in June 1948, in Jefferson, Texas. The Sherrill’s third son, Stanley Frank, was born February 1952, also in Jefferson (Ancestry, 2019). In 1953, the Sherrills moved to Colorado where Elder Sherrill pastored the Pueblo church, baptizing over seventy people that year. As a result of his success, Elder Sherrill was asked to be the conference evangelist the next year. Frank felt that in order to give himself fully to evangelism, he should live in a house trailer so he could move from place to place as the conference directed. He secured a comfortable trailer in which he and his wife and three sons lived for the next few years (Campbell, 1954). In 1959 a call from the Potomac Conference in Virginia, began his departmental service as a youth leader. Four years later the Southwestern Union called him home to head the youth work. His presidential years began in August 1966 when he moved to Shreveport to serve in the Arkansas-Louisiana conference. He served there until 1974, when he received a call to serve as the Arizona Conference president (Sandefur, 1974).
Arkansas-Louisiana Conference President
During Elder Sherrill’s leadership, membership in the Arkansas-Louisiana conference grew from 4,106 to 6,056. Fourteen churches were added as well as five new companies. Under his influence, Christian education was strengthened as the membership added to the facilities at Ozark Academy. New school buildings were constructed at De Queen, Little Rock, and Springdale. Camp Yorktown Bay was acquired and the facilities were expanded. The conference office on Southfield Drive was enlarged (Sandefur, 1974). New churches built during this time were Bonnerdale, Brentwood, Clinton, De Queen, Gentry, Huntsville, Mountain View, New Orleans First, Rogers, Shreveport South, Siloam Springs, Sulphur Springs, and West Memphis (Beeler, 1996).
Retirement Years
Elder Sherrill retired from the Arizona conference in 1989. His wife joy died on September 23, 1999, in Arizona. Elder Sherrill later moved to Keene, Texas, where he died on November 17, 2011. A friend of his, Gary Webb, stated, “A wonderful man who understood the excitement of finding beautiful rocks. I have many ‘pet’ rocks that he made for my family. I will treasure them always” (Webb, 2011). Another long-time friend, Ron Russell, said, “My years of association with Elder Sherrill were very rewarding. I have gleaned many ways of looking at issues and life. I knew when I took one of my, in my opinion, best courses of action to resolve a problem, [his response] to the idea [was], ‘that would be my second way to go’. I soon learned that he was saying anything else would be first. I then went back to the drawing board for something that could be first in his view. . . .I soon learned that a second and third look can bring a better plan. We look forward to the bright morning when we can meet him with the Savior we all love” (Russell, 2011).
Citations
(1945). Union College. U.S., School Yearbooks, 1880-2012. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.
Ancestry Family Trees. (2019, Oct. 10). Ewing Frank Sherrill. Retrieved from ancestry.com.
Ibid. (2018, Nov. 18). Carl Sherrill. Retrieved from from ancestry.com.
Beeler, Charles R. (1996). A History of Seventh-day Adventists in Arkansas and Louisiana 1888-1996. Keene: Arkansas-Louisiana Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, p. 144.
Campbell, M. V. (1954, Apr. 27). Central Union Reaper, p. 1.
Russell, Ron. (2011, Nov. 20). In Memory of E. Frank Sherrill. Crosier-Pearson Funeral Home. Retrieved from cpcleburne.com.
Sandefur, Cree. (1974, Sep. 16). Pacific Union Recorder, p. 1.
Webb, Gary. (2011, Nov. 19). In Memory of E. Frank Sherrill. Crosier-Pearson Funeral Home. Retrieved from cpcleburne.com.
How it all Began 