Dennis Ensor

Dennis Ensor Biography

From the author:

I grew up as one of five kids on a family farm in the panhandle of Texas, between the small towns of Muleshoe and Farwell. Though I look back with immense gratitude for my farm roots and am truly thankful for the time I had available for imagination and meditation during those countless hours spent driving the tractor, when the time for occupational choices came I had no desire to carry on that farming tradition. Instead, I opted for teaching, then home building, remodeling, and a few other business ventures (and when possible, traveling and writing).

Having hated my English courses, in school, I never in a million years would have thought that the desire to write would well up inside me as it did. But, after responding to that ever growing pull to pen my first book (TEXAS PIONEER CHRONICLES: The Life and Times of the Ensor, Kelso and Crim Families Since 1856) about my family history, I have discovered that few things, very few things, bring me as much residual joy as having made that record permanent in a way that is informative, yet delightfully engaging to others.

Since then, I've felt passionately driven to write about my Christian journey which took me from what I was taught early on, to what I now believe. And in so doing, my desire has been to persuade my fellow believers, primarily in the Church of Christ, that we were wrong in our doctrinal interpretations and perspectives, and that it was time for us to change. Believing firmly that the change in our mindset and in our outlook could only come from the inside by "insiders," I elected to stay and fight with my words and my pen to try to make it happen. The result of that effort is my book, "THE GREAT DIVIDE IN THE CHURCH OF CHRIST." It effectively addresses the issues which have so deeply entangled us and is giving voice to many who have questioned in silence the things that came before.

And now comes my latest offering, "THE GOOD NEWS FROM GOD," and it's companion "THE BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO THE GOOD NEWS OF GOD." (These books are identical internally but have different covers. The former has no mention of a church name on the cover. The latter mentions "Outreach Church" and "Outreach church of Christ" on its cover.) These books are the result of my great desire to fill what I have seen as a huge void in our churches, in our libraries and on our streets.

To my knowledge, based upon my sixty plus years in the church, there is no basic, easy to read, easy to understand, comprehensive explanation about how the Bible, Christianity, church and the abundant life all fit together. For the "un-churched" or the "under-churched" who are ready to move toward God, things are so confusing and so complex. There are so many obstacles in the way, and there is so much conflicting information floating around that it is easy to become discouraged and just stay put.

So I felt called, even driven, to provide this simple, clear, easy-to-read, easy-to-understand little book that ties it all together and brings clarity to the unconnected seeker who longs for understanding. It takes the complex and makes it simple. It combines the pieces to make a whole. Without any other information or resources, one can finally have some simple clarity about God's plan for us, about how his word is laid out, how to find the "right" church and how to have the abundant life.

Today I live near Hamilton, Texas, where you'll generally find me sitting in, or pacing around in, my office as I try to force myself to stop writing, or rewriting (over and over and over), long enough to take care of the necessary paperwork on the businesses I've got going. But it's always a challenge because, truly, my heart keeps drawing me back to trying to make a difference in people's lives by putting the right words in the right place at the right time.