B. J. Thomas is the retired Senior Pastor of Northside United Pentecostal Church in Fort Smith, Arkansas, the Chairman of the Ministers Retirement Fund, Inc. Board of Trustees, the District Superintendent of the Arkansas District UPCI, Member of the Board of Directors of both Tupelo Children’s Mansion and Lighthouse Ranch for Boys, Member of the Budget Committee of the United Pentecostal Church, International, State Chaplain for the Arkansas State Police and a retired Major in the U. S. Army.
Brother Thomas and his wife, Sondra, are the parents of three sons, David, Mark, and Aaron, and have eight grandchildren. They make their home on the beautiful Greers Ferry Lake in North Central Arkansas.
Secretary / Ministerial Position
T. M. Jackson
T. M. Jackson serves as secretary of the board of trustees. Brother Jackson was a part of the early implementation of the Ministers Retirement Fund; and, for the past 23 years has served as Secretary of the MRFI Board of Trustees.
Brother Jackson first came to the World Evangelism Center in 1968 as Promotional Director for the Youth Division. In 1971 he was appointed the first Executive Administrative Assistant to the General Superintendent of the United Pentecostal Church. He has served three General Superintendents: Stanley W. Chambers, Nathaniel A. Urshan, and Kenneth Haney, the present General Superintendent.
Brother Jackson’s ministerial experiences include: pastor, teacher, Youth Promotional Director, Bible College President, Editor of Word Aflame Publications, and his current position--Senior Executive Administrative Assistant. In his current position at the World Evangelism Center, he also fills the position of HR Director, General Conference Coordinator, and Coordinator of the Insurance Department. His wife, Sue, also assists him as Executive Assistant and with General Conference coordination. The Jacksons have two children, Bradford and Marcia, and five grandchildren.
Brother Jackson states that it is his goal to assist in providing the very best and most efficient investment choices available to all UPCI Ministers and support staffs.
Ministerial Position
Aubrey L. Jayroe
Aubrey L. Jayroe is the pastor of ConnectPoint Church in Forrest City, Arkansas. Together with his wife, Donna, his son, Trent, his daughter-in-law, Heather, and delightful granddaughter, Maggie, the Jayroe family is blessed.
He is an accredited tax advisor and preparer with a Masters Degree in Business Administration. As owner of Jayroe & Company, PA, a full-service accounting firm, specializing in non-profit organizations, he is Enrolled to Practice before the IRS. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the Forest City Bank, NA.
Brother Jayroe serves as Secretary of the Arkansas District of the United Pentecostal Church. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Tupelo Children’s Mansion Ministries and the UPCI Ministers’ Retirement Fund Board of Trustees.
Professional Position
John Larson
John Larson is a fourth generation United Pentecostal. He met the love of his life, Judy, while at Western Apostolic Bible College and they have recently celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary. They have three married children. Their oldest daughter, Joy, is married to Rev. Daron Hudspeth and they pastor the United Pentecostal Church in Kirkwood, Missouri. Their daughter, Jennifer, is married to Rev. Stephen Walmer and he is an associate pastor at Christian Life Center in Stockton, California. Their son John III, is a licensed insurance broker in Missouri. He and his wife, Brandy, assist the Hudspeths in their church in Kirkwood, Missouri.
Brother Larson has been a licensed insurance broker for over 37 years. He primarily brokered through the Allstate Insurance Company but has appointments with over 20 companies. He is licensed in Property and Casualty Insurance, Life, Health, and Disability Insurance, as well as Workplace Insurance. He also has his Securities License and was a multi-million dollar producer while active in the business.
Up until his retirement in July 2006, he received numerous industry awards. He was in the top three percent of agents for his entire career at Allstate. He was a Chairman’s Award, Life Leader, and National Conference Agent 32 out of 35 years for Allstate.
Brother Larson has served on the Deacon and Trustee Board at Stockton Christian Life Center since 1973. He chaired the Architectural and Building Committee for the current 6000 seat church facility, as well as the former facility which now houses Christian Life College.
He and his wife Judy have worked in many areas of ministry including Sunday School, Children and Youth Ministries over the years. John has been an instructor of the New Converts class for over 20 years. His favorite lesson to teach is on Stewardship and Tithing.
Professional Position
Robert L. Rodenbush
Robert L. Rodenbush graduated with a B.S. in Economics in 1990 from the University of Missouri–St. Louis and with a Juris Doctorate in 1993 from Washington University School of Law. Rob Rodenbush also holds an LLM in taxation and as part of his education studied International and Comparative Law in Paris, France and interned in Washington, D.C. with the Honorable J. Bennett Johnston, United States Senate.
Until 2004 Rob Rodenbush was a partner with the law firm of Lathrop & Gage L.C. where he focused his law practice on religious and tax-exempt organizations. Rob has served as legal counsel for the UPCI, the Missouri, Illinois and Indiana Districts of the UPCI as well as for ministers, churches and ministries. In addition, Rob serves on the Trustee Board of the UPCI Ministers Retirement Fund, Inc., on the Board of Regents of the UPCI Division of Education, and on the Board of Trustees of Compassion Services International.
He maintains his license to practice law in Missouri, Illinois and Indiana; and, though now involved in full-time ministry, he continues to provide legal counsel to churches and ministers. An ordained minister, Rob serves as the Associate Pastor at Calvary Tabernacle in Indianapolis, Indiana and as the Executive Vice-President of Indiana Bible College.
Rob grew up in Ghana, West Africa, where his parents were missionaries and served on the Associates in Missions program in Africa and Europe. Rob and his wife, Jaye, have been married since 1999 and have two children, Micki Evangeline and Robert Mooney.
Professional Position
Tom Spall
Tom Spall, a member of Calvary Tabernacle, Indianapolis, Indiana has served as a MRFI Trustee since 1983. He was Senior Vice President in banking for twenty years, and was responsible for administration, operations, technology, networking, acquisition consolidations, and disaster contingency management. He served on many boards and committees for Calvary Tabernacle, Indiana National Bank, and various community organizations. He helped create and become president of AIM, a company owned by the three largest local banks.
Since retiring in 1994, he has been a consultant and has assisted banks, businesses, churches, and individuals. He and his wife, Bettie, are currently enjoying traveling the USA in their motor home.
Ministerial Position
R. G. Walls
Pastor Ron Walls grew up in Arkansas where farming was the staple; and, old-fashion traits of personal responsibility and service to country were of most importance. After high school graduation, Ron moved to California where he was converted under the ministry of Reverend Elga Battle in San Diego.
During the years 1964-1967, Ron attended and graduated from Christian Life College in Stockton, California. It was there he met and married his best friend and companion of forty-one years, LaNell Jackson of Salinas, California. They have two children, Ronnie Walls of Nashville, Tennessee and Annette Walls of Marion, Illinois.
After two years of full-time evangelizing, Ron returned to college where he obtained a Bachelor's Degree in Political Science from Greenville College and a Master of Theology from Hope University.
For the past thirty-seven years Ron and LaNell have pastored Marion's First Apostolic Church. During these same years he has visited and preached in over fifty countries throughout the world while visiting the State of Israel fifty-one times. In 1985, he along with Evangelist Charles Mahaney birthed Apostolic Holy Land Tours, a tour company that has assisted over two thousand Pentecostals desiring to visit the Holy Land.
For the past ten years he has served on the UPCI Ministerial Retirement Fund, Inc. Board of Trustees.
Promotional Coordinator
Stephen M. Drury
Stephen M. Drury has served as the Director of the Stewardship Department, United Pentecostal Church International, since 2002. He is a graduate of Apostolic Bible Institute, a LSW (Licensed Social Worker) in Mississippi, has 35 years of pastoral and administrative experience, including 26 years at Tupelo Children’s Mansion. He and his wife co-founded Tupelo Christian Academy and administered the academy for 21 years. They founded Abundant Life Tabernacle and New Beginnings International, all in Tupelo, Mississippi. He continues to serve as Chairman of New Beginnings International Children’s and Family Services which promotes life for the unborn child, hope and “new beginnings” for birth mothers in crisis pregnancy situations, and “forever families” for children through its service programs, including the Erwin Maternity Care Center and the New Beginnings Adoption Agency. The agency has counseled over 4,800 girls in crisis pregnancy, saving thousands of babies from abortion over the last 10 years and placed over 500 children in forever families since 1988.
Brother Drury also serves as President of the United Pentecostal Foundation (UPF), which he was instrumental in founding. The UPF was established as a service entity, for every individual who attends a UPCI church, to provide expertise, planning and strategies in the management of gifts to our local churches, every division, department, district and endorsed ministry of the UPCI. Brother Drury also serves as Marketing Director of the Ministers’ Retirement Fund; External Board Member, Faith Tabernacle United Pentecostal Church, Manchester, CT; and has served on the Institutional Advancement Committee of the Urshan Graduate School of Theology; as Consultant for Institutional Development, Gateway College of Evangelism; member of the Mercy Medical Network of the Foreign Missions Division; and various other groups. He and his wife, Evelyn, have three children, two of whom are married, and five grandchildren. His wife serves as Dean of Administration and Academic Dean of the Urshan Graduate School of Theology.
