The Bishop of “Eneas Jumper Corner”
Although some of the specific details are lost to history, it is not hard to imagine the swirl of conflict in the heart of Wilmore V. Eneas when he arrived home the day his wife was healed.He surely felt relief and joy that Arabella was no longer sick. She had been suffering, but now she was well. Yet there may also have been some unease about her new friends and spiritual guides. These Pentecostals were new to the Bahamas. Their style of worship was demonstrative, and their doctrine did not line up with either the Wesleyan Methodist Church he attended or the Bethel Baptist Church where Arabella played the organ.
W.V. Eneas is standing in the front row, third from right, at “The Camp.” Bishop Eneas led the construction of the thatch-covered building about 1915.
Arabella had not been well, but while sitting on her porch she heard preaching coming from the nearby street corner. It was an unfamiliar message, so she invited the ministers to come to her home and talk. They accepted her invitation and offered to lay hands on her to pray for her healing. Wilmore could not deny that Arabella was healed, and now she was also firmly committed to the Pentecostal gospel that one should be saved, sanctified, and filled with the Holy Ghost with the Bible evidence of speaking in tongues.
Church of God ministers Edmond and Rebecca Barr had arrived in Edmond’s homeland in November 1909 with the Pentecostal message. They were joined a few weeks later by R.M. and Ida Evans. It is possible that Arabella Eneas was the first convert of the Barrs in the Bahamas.
The Eneas family lived on Meadow Street in the Bain Town community of Nassau. Many of their neighbors were near the bottom of the social ladder. Although Wilmore’s formal education was limited, he had worked hard to better himself and had gained some means and respect in the community. Perhaps unsure of this Pentecostal message at first, he could not doubt the change in Arabella’s life. He welcomed the Church of God ministers, and the Eneas’ home became a ministry center in Bain Town until Wilmore was able to arrange a place for the growing congregation to meet.
By the time the Barrs and Evanses returned to Florida from the Bahamas, W.V. Eneas had emerged as the leader of the Church of God in Nassau. In 1915, he led in building a thatch place of worship called “The Camp.” About 1918 the congregation was able to build a more proper wood framed church house. Out of derision for their enthusiastic worship, the townspeople branded the Pentecostals as “Jumpers” and referred to the new location of the Church of God house of worship as “Eneas Jumper Corner.” Wilmore soon became the first black Church of God bishop in the Bahamas, and he served as pastor of the local church, now the East Street Cathedral, until 1961. He was also appointed as national overseer of the Bahamas.
Today the Eneas name continues to be well-respected. The home of Wilmore and Arabella is the W.V. Eneas Clinic, a medical facility operated by their granddaughter, Dr. Agreta Eneas-Carey. The Eneas legacy continues to bless the Bain Town community.
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This article was written by Church of God Historian David G. Roebuck, Ph.D., who is director of the Dixon Pentecostal Research Center and assistant professor of the history of Christianity at Lee University. This “Church of God Chronicles” was first published in the October 2010 Church of God Evangel.
