Jesse Adams was born in 1930, in Greenville, Texas. As the son of an itinerant Methodist minister, he was reared, he says, “between the Red River and the Gulf of Mexico,” never living in any one community more than three years. After the second of his three children was born, he himself felt what clergy describe as “The call to preach”. He attended Centenary College in Shreveport, Louisiana, and then earned his Masters from the Perkins School of Theology at S.M.U. in Dallas, Texas. Within a ten-day period, he received his Masters, was ordained Elder, saw his wife Gayle give birth to their third child, and moved his entire family 400 miles to his first appointment. He served 5 churches before retiring in 1988.