“Ex-local pastor, Rev. James T. Jones, now leads 10,000-member church in California,” Indianapolis Recorder, March 6, 1976, p. 14 – Transcript || Annotation || Archive
Ex-local pastor, Rev. James T. Jones, now leads 10,000-member church in California
SAN FRANCISCO, CA – A native of Indiana, the Rev. James Thurman Jones, 43, of Redwood Valley, California, a rural community abut (sic!) 120 miles north of here, wa (sic!) honored late spring, or named one of the 100 most outstanding clergymen in the nation by “Religion in American Life,” an interfaith organization.
A native of Crete in Randolph County, Indiana, Pastor Jones has been in California a little longer than a decade. In that decade his church, the Peoples Temple of the Disciples of Christ denomination has grown from a meeting place in the garage of his home to 10,500 active members including congregations in Redwood Valley, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.
One of the church’s associate ministers, Michael J. Prokes, formerly bureau chief for the CBS affiliate in Sacramento, concerning the work of the church observed, “Peoples Temple is made up of thousands of people from every racial, religious and socio-economic background, unted (sic!) by a vision of brotherhood among all human-beings.
“Since establishing this church 10 years ago, Pastor Jones has achieved tremendous things in the humanitarian field.
“As a bureau chief for the CBS television affiliate in Sacramento, I came to do a film documentary… and become so impressed with the program that I resigned my position to join as a full-time staff worker.”
Another view is offered by Wade Rubick of Indianapolis, Ind., general counsel of the 1.5 million member Disciples of Christ denomination. Rubick speaking of Peoples Temple stated: “From my numerous contacts with the members and the staff of the church, I can say, they are the most committed and dedicated group of people I have seen in any church anywhere.” Some of the major projects of Peoples Temple include care homes for orphans and senior citizens, a 40-acre ranch for retarded children, convalescent, centers, college dormitories and refuge shelter for animals.
One of the most dramatic programs of the church is the planting of the church is the planting of 30 different crops on several thousand acres at the Venezuelan border in South America. The church also acquired a ship the “Maceline,”(sic!) with a cpacity (sic!) of 50-ton cargo. It is used to transport food produce in the church’s agricultural mission to critical hunger regions.
How are the various projects accomplished? Contributions to church with a congregation ranging from 10,000 to 20,000 are considerable. The church sponsors bake sales to concession stands at baseball games.
Perhaps the most important is the contributions of church members, from volunteer labor to the counsel of lawyers, doctors, and numerous ordained ministers who have joined the congregation.
Subsequent to his graduation from high school in Richmond, Ind., with high school, he took education courses at Indiana University, later transferring to Butler University, Indianapolis. Before graduating from Butler University, age 21, he became a student pastor in Indianapolis.
His organizational ability became to manifest itself. He launched a campaign among members of both Roman Catholic and Protestant denomination to build a recreation center for children on the southside of Indianapolis.,(sic!)
In later years in Indianapolis, he formed the first Peoples Temple and more than 100 members followed him to California, when he decided to move there to organize a church in a more progressive area, his wife Mrs. Marceline Baldwin Jones, stated, for the sake of his family.
While still in Indianapolis, he was named the first director of the Mayor’s Commission on Human Rights. It was also in the early 1960’s that he and Mrs. Jones spent two years in South America as missionaries. Mrs. Jones is a registered nurse and a graduate of Reid’s School of Nursing, Richnmond(sic!), Ind. Presently she is a health care evaluator for the California Department of Health.
An officially ordained minister of the Disciples of Christ, long before he left. (sic!) Pastor Jones combined in his early years in California the pastoring of a new church, public school teachiung(sic!), and a business career.
But his goal was to establish a congregation “of principled persons who would practice literally the words of Jesus, in Mathew (sic!), 25 – to feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, and to visit the sick and imprisoned,” a church leaflet recalls.
Pastor and Mrs. Jones have seven children, six of them adopted from impoverished and different racial or ethnic backgrounds. Another adopted child was killed in an auto accident before the family left Indiana.
The San Francisco Chronical(sic!) reviewing activities of the PeoplesTemple(sic!) stated: “This church is best known for its social works which include housing and feeding senior citizens and medical convalescents, maintain a home for rtarded(sic!) boys, rehabilitating youthful drug users, and assisting non-members as well as members of the faith through college and legal difficulties.”
Pastor Jones’ mother, Mrs. James (Lynetta) Jones tells a compelling story of Pastor Jim Jones when he was six years(sic!).
He (Jim Jones) originated or was born in a background of the noble and abiding humanitarianism of (Quakers( Friends(sic!) in Indiana. According to Mrs. Jones, as the(sic!) child, Jim questioned a man, a stranger, the man answered finally:
“I don’t have a friend in the world. I’m about ready to give up.”
The boy said firmly:
“What do you mean mister? God’s your friend and I’m your friend. And mom will help you get a job.”
Mrs. Jones did just that and a reporter for The Palladium-Item, (Richmond, Ind.), William B. Treml, reporting or writing the story said:
“The rejuvenation of a man who had lost hope, marked a milestone in Jim Jones’ life. His love for humanity and his desire to help he(sic!) unfortunate was eventually to lead him to the ministry.”
There is no way the amiable, veteran of Richmond, Ind., reporting in 1953 could have realized how prophetic his words were.