James "Brother Jim" Jensen

James Buchanan Jensen ("Jim," "Jimmy," or "Brother Jim") was born February 14,
1939 in Dublin, GA and was the first son of the late Dorothy Cleo Buchanan Jensen and
Carl Joseph Paul Jensen. His grandparents were the late Reverend James Emory
Buchanan and Sarah Thelma Rogers Buchanan of middle Georgia, Peter Christian
Jensen of Oregon and Vera Mae Stout Jensen of California.
He attended and graduated from Americus High in 1957, after also attending a
Department of Defense School in the Philippines. He obtained an Associate's General
Business Degree from Georgia Southwestern University in 1959. Jim then transferred
to the University of Georgia's Terry College of Business in 1961. While at UGA Jim
obtained a BBA and a bride after meeting Barbara Joann Lewis at the Wesley
Foundation. They married in 1962.
Following in the footsteps of his maternal grandfather, the Reverend James Emory
Buchanan, Sr. and his uncle, the Reverend Samuel Sidney Buchanan, Sr., Jim answered
God's call to the ministry in Americus. Following college, he pursued this call at the
Chandler School of Theology at Emory University.
Jim dedicated his life to the service of the Lord, the United Methodist Church, and his
church homes, becoming a Deacon in the United Methodist Church in 1962. He
graduated from Emory with a Master of Divinity degree (MDiv) in 1964 and was
ordained to the service of God as an Elder in Full Connection in 1964.
Over the course of his sixty (60) years ministry with the South Georgia Conference of
the United Methodist Church ("UMC"), Jim served twelve (12) churches over thirty-
nine (39) years, including: the Graves Charge in 1964, which included Graves UMC,
Sasser UMC, New Prospect UMC, and Doverel UMC, while living in Graves; Leesburg
UMC in 1967, St. Andrews UMC in Columbus in 1969; Centenary UMC in Macon in
1976; Wilmington Island in Savannah in 1980; Americus First UMC in 1986; St.
Simons Island UMC in 1996 on St. Simons Island; Douglas First UMC in 1996; and
ending at Waycross First UMC in 1997. St. Simons Island UMC became Jim and
Barbara's home church following their retirement.
Jim was devoted and faithful to his work with the "Walk to Emmaus," "Kairos," the
"Stephens Ministry," "Map International," various prison ministries, and his support of
the Methodist Children's Home in Macon, GA.
In 2017 Jim published "Treasures By The Sea," a daily devotional and love letter to God
and the Golden Isles. His book, a lifelong dream, includes many of his beautiful
photographs from the island, beach and marsh and was his answer to the oft asked
question "What's next, Lord?
He is survived by his wife Barbara Lewis Jensen, of St. Simons and Duluth, and their
daughters, Jenny Elizabeth Jensen, Jenny's husband, John Charles Roe, Amy
Catherine Jensen, all of Duluth, and Joy Christina Jensen, of St. Simons Island, along
with his grandchildren, Jensy Melana Valverde Jensen, Isabel Rose Valverde Jensen,
John Charles Roe, Jr., Courtnay Elizabeth Roe, James Ryburn Roe, all of Duluth, and
Ford Buchanan Jensen, of St. Simons.
Jim is also survived by his brothers and their wives: Joseph Paul and Barbara Jensen,
of Nacogdoches, Texas; and David Carl and Faye Jensen, of Charleston, South
Carolina; his nieces and nephews, their spouses, and children:
Wesley and Julie Jensen, and their daughter Jordan and her husband,
Lance Gonzales, of Nacogdoches; Francie Jensen Wintermute and her
husband, Dohrman Wintermute, Dohrman, of Nacogdoches, and their son,
Ryan
Dohrman, of North Richland, Texas; David "David" Carl Jensen, Jr. and his
wife Emma Jensen, and their sons, of Fernandina Beach, Florida; Lindsey
Jensen Iverson and her husband Justin Iverson, and their daughter and
son, all of Charleston; Eric Buchanan Jensen, also of Charleston; and Erin
"Rinn" Stansfield Delaney and her husband Julian Delaney and their
daughter Lilly Delaney, of Germantown, Maryland.
Jim is survived by cousins Sara Eugenia Wooldridge Bankhead, Jimmy Leroy
McKinstry, Katherine Elizabeth Wooldridge McKinstry's surviving husband, James
"Jim" McLester Wooldridge, III, all of Midland Georgia, and Samuel Sidney Buchanan,
Jr. of Rochelle, Georgia, William "Billy" Emory Buchanan and his wife Mary of Clarion,
Pennsylvania, Rebecca Buchanan Sims of Georgetown, Texas, and Iris Naomi
Buchanan Schachte and her husband Robert of Castle Hayne, North Carolina, and their
families.
In lieu of flowers the family requests that donations be made to The Methodist Home
for Children & Youth, 304 Pierce Avenue/P.O. Box 2525, Macon, GA, 31204, (478) 751-
2826, https://www.themethodisthome.org/donate/, The South Georgia Conference of
the United Methodist Church, 3040 Riverside Drive, Suite A2, Macon, GA 31210, (478)
738-0048, https://www.sgaumc.org/, St. Simons Island United Methodist Church, 624
Ocean Boulevard, St. Simons Island, GA 31522, (912) 638-3317,
https://www.stsimonsumc.com/, and The American Heart Association,
https://www.heart.org, or to a charity of your choosing.
The family would like to thank everyone for the loving support they have received
during Jim's illness.