Growing up in Liberty and Easley, every boy on the mill hill had a nickname. James Ellenburg’s was “Shadow.” People in Pickens County still call him that.
“Preacher E” at home.Around the Palmetto Baptist Association – a consortium of 26 churches located in the northeastern section Anderson County, pretty countryside that slopes off toward the lazy bends of the Saluda River – he goes by “Preacher E.”
Ellenburg recently retired after 10 years as Palmetto Association’s DOM (director of missions, as any good Baptist might surmise, although he claims the acronym stands for “dear old man”), and he leaves a long shadow, indeed.
Ellenburg was honored at the association’s spring meeting March 26 at New Hope Baptist Church, Pelzer. Pastors and others took turns stepping to the microphone to tell their favorite Preacher E stories. They tossed good-natured jabs at the dear old man, a person whose humor and kindheartedness are hallmarks of his ministry, both as pastor and later as a “pastor’s pastor.”
Ellenburg accepted the director of missions position in 1996. He had retired as pastor of Washington Baptist Church, Pelzer, in 1990 after 15 years of service. He also was former pastor of Jones Avenue Baptist Church, Easley; Bounty Land Baptist Church; Seneca, and El Bethel Baptist Church in Tampa, Fla.
He described his work with the Palmetto Association as “one of the most rewarding experiences of my life.”
“We are a small association, but one that responds in a great way to special needs,” he said. “These pastors are my friends. My emphasis (as director of missions) has been on ministry – serving others in Jesus’ name.”
If ever there was a man for whom the description “twinkle in his eye” was coined, it must be Ellenburg, who always seems to be barely suppressing a funny story or tongue-in-cheek observation.
His humor is mostly self-deprecating (“don’t take yourself too seriously – you’re not going to get out of the world alive, anyway”) and disarming. He smiles while telling a listener that it took him 14 years to get through college and seminary, adding, in mock solemnity, that his wife earned a Ph.T. (“put husband through”) degree in the process.
“God’s people ought to be happy,” he said. “Humor opens doors.”
Ellenburg and wife Louise receive a plaque expressing appreciation from Mark Spearman, right, pastor of White Plains Baptist Church, Pelzer, and evangelism director for Palmetto Baptist Association.Behind the humor, a sweetness radiates. When the 79-year-old Ellenburg recounts his childhood, his conversion and calling, his years in the Army, his marriage to Louise (“the prettiest thing I had ever seen in my life”), the crushing loss of their youngest child, the conversions of drunks, the simple but profound kindnesses shown by church members – his gratitude for God’s providence shines, almost literally, in his eyes.
Although he plans to indulge his two hobbies, watching baseball and working his vegetable garden, Ellenburg emphasized that he still wants to preach and teach at every opportunity. Upon his first retirement 17 years ago, he had a business card printed up that read, “Have Bible, Will Travel.”
He once told a listener he had to prepare to speak at the Get-Together Club. “I do not know what a ‘Get-Together Club’ is,” he said, “but we are getting together.”
The people of the Palmetto Association hope to be getting together with Preacher E for many years to come.