Frank Jenner

Frank Arthur "Bones" Jenner (surname often misspelled Genor; 2 November 1903– 8May 1977) was an Australian sailor and evangelist. His signature approach to evangelism was to ask people on George Street, Sydney, "If you died within 24 hours, where would you be in eternity? Heaven or hell?" Born and raised in England, he contracted African trypanosomiasis at the age of twelve and suffered from narcolepsy for the rest of his life. After some time, he joined the Royal Navy, but deserted in New York and joined the United States Navy. When he was 24, he deserted again while in Australia. He subsequently served with the Royal Australian Navy until he bought his way out in 1937.

That year, Jenner encountered a group of men from the Exclusive Brethren who were engaging in open-air preaching, and he converted to Christianity. For 28 years, from his initial conversion until his debility from Parkinson's disease, Jenner engaged in personal evangelism, probably speaking with more than 100,000 people in total. One person who became a Christian after encountering Jenner's question was Noel Stanton, who went on to found the Jesus Army in 1969.

In 1952, the Reverend Francis Dixon of Lansdowne Baptist Church in Bournemouth, England, began hearing several testimonies from people who became Christians after Jenner accosted them on George Street, Sydney. The following year, Dixon met with Jenner in Australia and told him about the people he had met who had become Christians as a result of Jenner's evangelism, and Jenner, then fifty years old, cried because he had not previously known that even one of the people he had talked to had remained a Christian beyond their initial profession of faith.

Jenner died from colorectal cancer in 1977. While he was alive, very few people knew of him, but after he died, stories of his evangelistic activities circulated widely, and elements of some of these stories contradicted others. In 2000, Raymond Wilson published Jenner of George Street: Sydney's Soul-Winning Sailor in an attempt to tell the story of Jenner's life accurately. Nonetheless, conflicting accounts of Jenner's life have continued to propagate, including an account from Ché Ahn in which Jenner is referred to as "Mr. Genor".

Early life

Frank Arthur Jenner was born on 2November 1903 in Southampton, Hampshire, England. When he was fourteen, the ship sailed from Southampton to Cape Town, South Africa. On the way, while the ship was docked at a port in West Africa, a tsetse fly bit Jenner and infected him with Trypanosoma; he therefore contracted African trypanosomiasis, which is also called "sleeping sickness". He subsequently entered a 15-day coma, but eventually recovered. From this point on, he suffered from excessive daytime sleepiness and was eventually diagnosed with narcolepsy,

Navy career Jenner was one of the Royal Australian Navy sailors who retrieved HMAS Canberra from England.

After some time, Jenner joined the Royal Navy, but deserted in New York City, United States. He soon joined the United States Navy. He became particularly attached to the game craps, which was popular in the United States at the time. He started to keep a rabbit's foot in the left upper pocket of his shirt, and would rub it with his left hand while he rolled the dice with his right. His shipmates therefore began calling him "Bones", a nickname he kept for the rest of his navy career. his service with the United States Navy involved going to Australia and he deserted again, this time in Melbourne. They continued to live in Melbourne after their wedding and Jenner joined the Royal Australian Navy. He soon became one of the sailors assigned to travel to England to retrieve HMAS Canberra.

In 1939, with the onset of World War II, Jenner was recalled to active duty. Because of his narcolepsy, he was given shore duties in Sydney. In this capacity, he participated in undercover operations and delivered sealed orders. standing in front of the National Australia Bank on Collins Street. The man agreed, so Jenner taught the group of Brethren how to play craps there on the pavement. One of the Brethren invited Jenner into his home for tea and told him about the gospel. Jenner converted to Christianity and, when he went home, told Jessie she was a sinner bound for hell and therefore in need of salvation. According to Wilson's biography of Jenner, Jessie thought Jenner had become manic or insane. They had a young daughter named Ann by this point and Jenner was gambling so much that he was not providing for his family. For both these reasons, Jessie left Jenner and moved to Corowa to work on a farm, taking Ann with her. She said she would return only when Jenner regained his sanity. On several occasions, he aggressively told Jessie's brothers they needed to become Christians, which angered them.

Jenner's wife and daughter moved to India to avoid the stress of poverty arising from Jenner's frequent unemployment, but they eventually returned to him on SS Oronsay.

Later in 1937, Jessie became seriously infected with boils and, (Research has since demonstrated that peptic ulcers are not caused by stress but rather by infection by the bacterium Helicobacter pylori, which may be foodborne or waterborne.)

Jenner would normally wake up to pray at 5am each day. In the 1940s, Jenner left the Glanton Brethren and joined the Open Brethren. Jenner actively partnered with The Navigators, Campaigners for Christ, Baptists, Anglicans, and Methodists. He kept religious tracts in his shirt pocket where he had previously kept his rabbit's foot, and he often gave these tracts to people he met. Jenner asked many people the same question: "If you died within 24 hours, where would you be in eternity? Heaven or hell?" If they were willing to engage in conversation with him, he would invite them either to his home or to a local church. Jenner was most active in evangelism during World War II. On Saturday nights during the war, Jenner would invite groups of sailors to his home for a service consisting of some hymns and a short sermon. with the Royal Navy. Stanton became preoccupied with the memory of this meeting for several months afterwards and, the next year, became a committed Christian. Stanton went on to found the Jesus Army in Northampton, England, in 1969. In 1952, another person Jenner accosted with his question on George Street was Ian Boyden, a man from Roseville who was serving in the Royal Australian Air Force. After having a brief conversation with Jenner, Boyden accepted Jenner's invitation to attend a church service at Renwick Gospel Hall, where he responded to the sermon by committing to living as a Christian thenceforward, which he did for at least fifty years. Many other people who had a brief encounter with Jenner on the street in Sydney also became Christians,

Discovery by Francis Dixon

The story of Frank Jenner (pictured) became popular because of Francis Dixon, who investigated after meeting many people who had converted to Christianity after encountering a man on George Street.

The Reverend and his youth pastor, Peter Culver, had become a Christian as a result of meeting Jenner on George Street on 2September 1945. In 1952, at an All Nations Bible College event, Dixon and Culver heard Noel Stanton's Christian testimony, which included the episode in which Stanton had met Jenner. Dixon then realised that Culver and Stanton must have become Christians as a result of the same man. Dixon hoped to find Jenner there, In Adelaide, Dixon told the stories of Culver and Stanton while preaching. Murray Wilkes then approached Dixon and said he had also become a Christian after having been asked Jenner's question on George Street. if he knew a man who asked strangers on George Street whether or not they were headed for heaven or hell. Gilchrist was familiar with Jenner and Jamaica. By 1979, Dixon had discovered ten people who had become Christians as a result of Jenner's evangelism. It is because of Dixon that the story of Jenner's evangelism began to be told. Dixon's wife Nancy wrote an account of Jenner's evangelism, which she called "The Jenner Story". Towards the end of his life, Jenner developed dementia and his narcolepsy worsened. For six months, he was confined to a bed and was treated with amphetamine. He was then diagnosed with colorectal cancer and spent a subsequent ten days at Calvary Hospital, Kogarah, New South Wales, where he died at 11:45pm on 8May 1977 at the age of 73. Because he had befriended so many police officers towards the end of his life, his body was given a police escort to the burial, which took place at Woronora Lawn Cemetery. His wife died two years later.

Legacy While Jenner was alive, very few people knew of him, and the effects of his evangelism were largely unrecognised. After his death, however, stories about his evangelism circulated widely. Stories of his evangelistic activities generated a largely oral tradition, and elements of some stories contradicted others. Many storytellers said Jenner was small in stature and that he had white hair; this description is contradicted by interviews with family members.

Ray Comfort (pictured) wrote an account of Jenner's evangelism in which Jenner is called "Mr. Genor", and Ché Ahn repeated this account in the 2006 book Spirit-led Evangelism.

In 2000, Raymond Wilson published a book called Jenner of George Street: Sydney's Soul-Winning Sailor in an attempt to tell the story of Jenner's life accurately. Jenner's family had been finding it painful to have alternate accounts of Jenner's life circulating around the world, so they gave Wilson all the information he desired. Wilson wrote that Jenner was "eccentric... the very antithesis of the 'wise', 'mighty', and 'noble'," but that his life was therefore a good demonstration of 2 Corinthians 12:9, Wilson wrote that Jenner's question of "heaven or hell" was very similar to that of Arthur Stace, another Australian street evangelist who wrote the word "Eternity" on the sidewalks so people would consider where they would be in eternity. Wilson called Jenner a battler and did not recommend that his readers emulate Jenner's evangelistic activities "unless Divinely fitted in a similar way."

Nonetheless, conflicting accounts of Jenner's life continued to propagate at least as late as 2006. In some accounts of Jenner's evangelism, Jenner is referred to as "Mr. Genor". One such account was recorded by Ray Comfort on the Living Waters website and then repeated in the 2006 book Spirit-led Evangelism: Reaching the Lost through Love and Power by Ché Ahn. Ahn is one of the storytellers who refers to Jenner as a "little white-haired man", and Ahn concludes his story by writing that Jenner died two weeks after encountering Dixon, who is not named. These details contradict the information provided by Wilson, who writes in his biography that Jenner died more than twenty years after Dixon told him about the people who had become Christians as a result of his evangelism. Claire Goodwin encouraged people to emulate Jenner by including an account of his evangelism in her 2013 book Compelled to Tell: A Fascinating Journey from a New York Dead-End Street to a Lifetime of Ministry and Soul-Winning.