Rev. Dr. A. Joseph Essington

March 27, 2020

(Rev. Dr.) A. Joseph Essington, 79, known to many as “Brother Joe” or “Pastor Joe” was born in Swedesboro on February 7, 1941 and passed away on March 27, 2020. He graduated from Penns Grove High School in 1959, from Shelton College in 1965 and from Grace Theological Seminary in Winona Lake, IN in 1979. In addition, he has taken graduate work at Queens College in Flushing, New York City, and is a graduate of the American Correctional Chaplaincy Training School, when it was headquartered at Taylor University in Fort Wayne, IN. In September 2003, a Doctor of Letters Degree was conferred on him by Dayspring University in Walnut Creek, CA. He is a member of the Legion of Honor of the Chapel of the Four Chaplains in Valley Forge, PA. He was licensed to preach in 1959 and ordained in 1965. In addition to being an ordained pastor, he was a New Jersey certified teacher. Dr. Essington served as Chaplain of the McAuley Water Street Mission in New York City after graduating from college. He then served as a teacher and as a administrator in Christian Schools for twenty years. He has served in the chaplaincy and facility school at Bayside State prison in Leesburg, NJ. For twelve years prior to his retirement, he was Senior Chaplain and Director of Inmate Services of the Salem County Correctional Facility (NJ), where he was in charge of Chaplaincy, the facility school, the facility law and recreational library and the facility volunteers. In more recent years, Dr. Essington has also served as Interim Pastor of the First Baptist Church of Penns Grove-Carney’s Point, NJ., as interim Pastor of the Greenwich Baptist Church, Greenwich, NJ and as Interim Pastor of the Chili Crossroads Bible Church, Fresno, OH. His hobbies also include photography and church history. Over the years he has done some church related historical research and writing. In the past, as well, his “tentmaking” was as an electrician and in serving as the business manager for electrical contractors. He is survived by his wife Barbara; children, Albert, Ruth, Dan and his wife Heidi and Parker and his wife Lauren; grandchildren, Ashley, Danny, Makayla and Abigail. In addition to his parents, two siblings, Jack and James Essington predeceased him. At this time services are private and burial will take place at St. George’s Cemetery in Pennsville. www.adamsfuneralhome.org