Jerry Adkins

Jerry Adkins was apostolic before he ever knew what apostolic was. Saved in a Baptist church 30 years ago, he clearly remembers his first conversation with Jesus. He told the Lord that if his destiny was to warm a pew, then he didn’t want any part of it. God took Adkins at his word and from that day forward when he wasn’t working on the farm he was working in the church.

Soon the zealous new believer would set out on a search for the truth that would take him nearly three decades to find. “When I first got saved I was reading Ephesians chapter four and I had to wonder where all the apostles and prophets were,” says Adkins, with his charming southern draw. “The only five-fold ministry gifts I saw in the church were evangelists, pastors and teachers. When I questioned this, people told me that there were only 12 original apostles and that we don’t need prophets anymore because we have the Word of God. I knew that wasn’t the truth.”

Adkins went on to study at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Ft. Worth, Texas in search of some answers. That’s when he started attending Pastor Jack Taylor’s non-denominational church. Taylor came out of the Baptist church, too, but got the left foot of fellowship when he received the baptism of the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in other tongues. Once Adkins started attending Taylor’s church, it wouldn’t be long before the Holy Spirit filled him and change his life – and ministry – forever.

Adkins graduated seminary in 1983 and landed in Weimar, a small Texas town, as the pastor of a local First Baptist Church. He introduced himself to his new congregation and wasted no time in telling them that he believed in praise and worship, lifting up holy hands, and multi-culturalism in the church. There was little resistance – until the Spirit started falling in the church. Then many members started heading for the hills. “When a spirit of laughter hit our church people left,” says Adkins, who is now the set-man of Equipper’s Outreach Fellowship in Weimer. “When people started getting slain in the Spirit more people left. The more manifestations of the Spirit we experienced the more people would leave. We were blessed when more than 100 religious people left. The ones that stayed got filled with the Spirit. It’s been a battle, but God is good.”

While Adkins was happy that he wasn’t warming a pew, he still had unanswered questions about apostles and prophets that nagged his soul. Finally, in the late 1990s he discovered the truth – the apostles and prophets were rising up again – and when he found the truth, he embraced it. Little did he know that God would soon unveil his own apostolic calling through a prophetic word. “Prophets started announcing that I was an apostle,” Adkins recalls. “I didn’t really know what that even meant, but suddenly there was a hunger in my heart to start building churches and establishing God’s government on the earth.”

Not only is Adkins building the local church and raising up spiritual sons to perpetuate the apostolic mandate, God is also sending him to the nations to spread the Gospel. Adkins has helped to equip believers in Africa, Guatemala, Mexico and Nicaragua. “I do a lot of work in Mexico,” he says. “We’re branching out and doing more as the Lord leads. The anointing is getting stronger all the time.”

The biggest impact of the apostolic on his church is the manifestation of miracles and healings and supernatural financial interventions, says Adkins. The biggest surprise has been the increased spiritual warfare. The religious spirit is a stronghold in his territory, along with Jezebel and what he calls a “pretender spirit.” “This pretender spirit is causing people to pretend to be something that they’re not,” he explains. “They pretend to be Christians when they are not. They pretend to be your friends but they are not. They are really backbiters and they are out to destroy you.”

Adkins' biggest challenge is fulfilling God’s will for his life and he is ever watchful for the “fear of man” mentality that would keep him from walking in his calling. “As a pastor I wanted to please everyone,” he admits. “But as an apostle I find myself saying things like, ‘If they don’t like the church, then they can leave.’ So I see a change in myself. I know now what God has called me to do and the real challenge I have personally is to step up and just walk in that anointing that I know is there.”

Crossing over to the apostolic has brought miracles, warfare, identity, and lots of other surprises to Adkins’ ministry. But he couldn’t be happier walking in the truth of the Word, taking the Gospel to the nations, and equipping believers to do the work of the ministry.

His advice to other leaders who are crossing over to the apostolic: Move slowly, but never stop moving. “Give the people time to catch the vision because most people love their pastor and want to follow him,” he suggests. “Take the time to explain and keep on loving them, and don’t fear the people. Just keep your focus on God and take it step by step.”

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