The Rev. E.L. "Gene" Jones

information transcribed by Marylee Knight

submitted by Gloria B. Mayfield, Panola-Rusk Co Coordinator

Gene Jones was a Panola County country boy who grew to become a very influential Baptist minister, serving as pastor of fifteen churches in both Panola and Rusk Counties and preaching on special occasions in many more. He was the son of the Rev. Milton and Tommie Elizabeth (Burks) Jones. At the time Gene and his twin sister, Pauline, were born, Rev. Jones was pastor of the Deberry Baptist Church in Panola County. Gene’s paternal grandfather, the Rev. J.J. Burks, was a circuit riding Baptist minister, who lived in the Brachfield Community of Rusk County, but preached in churches ranging from the southwestern corner of Rusk County to as far east as the Flatwoods Community in Panola County.

A most poignant story relates to the time the Jones family lived in Deberry. The couple’s first child was baby boy that was either stillborn or died shortly after birth. Unable to make the long trek back to Zion Hill Cemetery in Rusk County to bury their child with other members of their family, the Jones prepared to bury him in the Deberry Cemetery. Members of the Yates family requested the Jones bury their baby in the Yates family plot. A few years later as the Jones prepared to move back to Rusk County, Mrs. Jones was distraught at the thought of leaving her baby’s grave unattended. Mrs. Yates came to Mrs. Jones and assured her that they would look after the baby’s grave as if it were part of their family. In 1984, Pauline (Jones) Jimerson went to Deberry to find her brother’s grave. Much to her astonishment, there was a small bright arrangement of silk flowers on it. Although Mrs. Yates had died many years before, her daughter, Devereaux (Yates) Stewart had continued to look after the baby’s grave, honoring a pledge between two mothers so many years earlier.

The following four newspaper articles give a glimpse into the life of Gene Jones. The first is his obituary, the second the announcement of his retirement, the third a tribute to his years in the ministry and finally, his philosophy on how to be a successful pastor, as written in his own words.

Rev. E.L. Jones

Courtesy of The Panola Watchman

Funeral services for the Rev. E.L. "Gene" Jones, 87, of Henderson were held at 2 p.m. on Monday, September 1, 1997, at Crawford-A. Crim Funeral Home Chapel in Henderson. The Rev. Carrol T. Brooks officiated. Burial followed in the Welch Cemetery in Rusk County. He died Sunday August 31, at Henderson Memorial Hospital.

Born March 28, 1910 in Panola County, he lived most of his life in Rusk County and, at the time of his death, was a member of Liberty Baptist Church. The Rev. Jones was a retired Baptist minister who served fifteen different churches in Texas throughout his career. He was also a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. He pastored Bethel Baptist Church in Clayton for ten years. The Rev. Jones was proceeded in death by his son, Clifton W. Jones, who died in 1993.

Survivors include his wife of 65 years, Ruth Poovey Jones of Henderson; daughter-in-law, Doris Jones Lane of Tyler; brother, Joshua Jones of Henderson; granddaughter Melanye Jones Bauer and her husband, Bryan of Tyler; grandson, Mark W. Jones an wife, Stephanie, of Henderson; great-grandsons, David Brown, Kyle Brown, Caleb Jones, Shane Jones and Bryan Bauer and great-granddaughter Kristine Bauer.

Rev. Jones Retires from the Ministry

Courtesy of The Panola Watchman, August 1989

Last Sunday, August 6, the Rev. E.L. Jones retired from the pulpit at Bethel Baptist Church in Clayton, after 54 years as a Baptist minister. He surrendered to the ministry in August 1935 when he "definitely felt God called me to preach," Jones said.

He first pastored at the Zion Hill Baptist Church, north of the Brachfield Community, where he then preached every Sunday for the next twelve years. "Then I changed churches and took a Sunday off," Jones reflected.

Even though he is now retired and is 79 years old, on the 20^th of the month he will preach for the 70^th Anniversary of Lamesa Baptist Church where he was pastor when it celebrated its 50^th Anniversary. "I told them then I wouldn’t do it, though," he chuckled, "Unless they promised to call me back for their 100^th."

A Tribute to Bro. And Mrs. E.L. Jones

Courtesy of the Baptist Progress, Jan 7, 1987

A special word of congratulations and appreciation is expressed to our beloved Bro. And Mrs. E.L. Jones for their fifty-one years of dedicated service among BMA churches. Stone Ridge Baptist Church in Kilgore recently named him pastor emeritus.

Bro. Jones has been widely known as a builder of churches. Wherever he has pastored, things have happened; his pastorates were earmarked by record attendance and building programs. Much of his early ministry was conducted in East Texas before pastoring Bryan Street Baptist Church in Lamesa on two occasions – the first for 7-1/2 years and the second for 6-1/2 years. During the 18-month period between those two terms in Lamesa, he pastored Calvary Baptist Church in Crockett, where he led them to build a spacious new sanctuary, and they experienced phenomenal growth. In Lamesa, the church grew to a weekly attendance of over 300 in Sunday School. He also led them in a major building program.

For fifteen years he pastored College Heights Baptist Church in Nacogdoches, and during his ministry there, the church grew to a record attendance of 287 in Sunday School. They built a 400-seat sanctuary in 1964 and a large educational annex in 1969. Under his leadership, the church added their first full-time staff member, Charles Sullivan, who served as Music-Education Director. They also began a radio ministry. It is doubtful that you could find a person in Nacogdoches County who had not at least shaken hands with Bro. E.L. Jones.

When Bro. Jones resigned in 1974 to move back to "Sleepy Hollow", (his home near Henderson), churches started scheduling him for revivals. He conducted revivals almost continuously for 18 months. He then accepted Shawnee Village Baptist Church in Henderson where he served for two years.

After he resigned there, Bethel Baptist Church in Clayton called him in 1979. As ws typical of Br. Jones, he "hit the ground running" and, within a year, the old church (which incidentally had been disbanded for a couple of years in the early 70’s) reached a record of 154 in Sunday School. They remodeled the sanctuary and built a spacious educational building and a new parsonage.

Upon his resignation from the Clayton church, Walnut Springs Baptist Church near Deberry extended a call to him. During his one-year ministry there, the church grew from 14 in Sunday School to 50.

A description of Br. Jones’ ministry would be incomplete if we didn’t mention his faithful companion. Mrs. Jones has stood with him through the years, sharing his ministry.

Bro. Jones still receives many calls for revivals and pulpit supply. His long and fruitful ministry has been characterized by growth, building programs, excitement about his Lord and his church and ENERGY. One can readily see by his infectious smile and warm handshake that he loves souls. He can quote more poetry than most people read in a lifetime. He is a pastor’s pastor and has been a special "big brother" and role model in the ministry to scores of younger pastors. Bro. Jones, your encouragement and enthusiasm are needed among us! God bless you and Mrs. Jones. We love you!

Bro. E.L. Jones

A Successful Pastor’s

Experiences of Church Growth

Courtesy of the Baptist Progress, July 18, 1984

I preached my first sermon the second Sunday in August 1935. For the first 40 years, I had a place to preach every Sunday with the exception of one.

My first pastorate was a little church in Rusk County named Sweetgum. It hadn’t had services for three years. I found it and asked a man in the community if he could get some people together for preaching, and he did. We were they for 18 months. We baptized 18 in a creek. The next summer I conducted a second revival and baptized 13 more. They paid me $17,000 for the entire 18 months I was there. I guess they wanted to keep me humble.

We were at First Baptist Church in Itasca for three years while we were attending Jacksonville College. A record attendance of 100 was reached while we were there.

From Itasca in August of 1944, we moved to Bryan Street Baptist Church in Lamesa. They were averaging 120 in Sunday School. At one time, during that 14 years, we averaged 305 in Sunday School. It was at Lamesa that we had our largest children’s choir. That’s also where I had my first building program, which is the present sanctuary and educational building.

From there we went to Missionary Baptist Church in Crockett. They were having about 60 in Sunday School. In a little less than 12 months, we reached 262. There were 112 added to the church, 64 of them were by baptism. The present auditorium was built while we were there.

After 18 months in Crockett, we returned to Lamesa. In 1959 we moved to Nacogdoches to pastor College Heights Baptist Church. I was 50 years old and a young deacon thought I was too old for the church.

The church grew from an aver of 60 in Sunday School to 280. We built the present auditorium first and, then the educational annex. We were in Nacogdoches 15-1/2 years. It was there that the first ABS chapter was organized.

After resigning College Heights, I was involved in full-time evangelism for 18 months. From evangelism I went to Shawnee Village Baptist Church in Henderson. The attendance grew from about 35 to 65.

After a year, Bethel Baptist Church in Clayton called me and I resigned Shawnee Village. The year I arrived in Clayton they averaged 53 in Sunday School. We reached over 150 for an average and 177 were added to the church during the 3-1/2 years we were there.

After Clayton, we worked with Walnut Springs Baptist Church near Deberry. We went from 14 to 53 in the year that I pastored there. I resigned and came home expecting to rest for a while. And I did rest for four Sundays – until Stone Ridge Baptist Church in Kilgore called me as interim pastor. Not long after I agreed to serve in that capacity, they called me as pastor. We had 23 the first Sunday that we were there. We have had 22 additions, five of them by baptism.

How did I get the thing rolling? How does it happen? One little four-letter word – WORK! It takes a lot of it – work, work, work, visit, visit, visit. A pastor must let his people know that he means business. They need to know that he is going knocking on doors. He must set the example.

A pastor can’t push people into the field. Never should a pastor get into the pulpit and say, "I didn’t come here to do the visiting, that is your job, you fill the pews, I’ll fill the pulpit." You can’t build a church like that. And that has happened too many times.

Never put off a visit that can be made today. You go just as soon as possible. When a church knows that the preacher is leading, "Come on, let’s go, I’ll show you how!". then, they’ll catch on. It’s that constant going yourself and letting people know that you are going and when someone comes, is saved and makes a profession of faith – it’s not bragging, it’s encouraging to the church to tell them that you led that person to the Lord. They’ll see the value of witnessing. Then I say, "Now see what you’ve been missing by not visiting?" I preach that over and over. Basically, that’s it – going after them.

How do you find them? The first thing I do when I go to a new town is meet the lady at the Chamber of Commerce, tell her who I am and what I want. I want the newcomers list, even if I have to pay for it. As soon as church is dismissed on Sunday, I announce, "Come, find those in your neighborhood." They will come and shuffle through the cards containing the names of newcomers. I take any that are left.

Another method is to ask the congregation if they know someone that isn’t going to church – a friend, a relative or a neighbor. I’m not asking them to visit. Tell me where they live and I’ll do it!

There is another method that I use. I call it "assignment cards". I find someone with whom I haven’t been successful. I’ll say, " have a name and an address, now, who will go and see them?" On the card, there is a place to make a report. They know when I hand them the card that they have to report back.

So, the preacher must not only preach this type of work and promote it every day – he must practice it.

While I was in Crockett, a man came from Houston. He wanted to know what I did to make the church grow. I told him that I am just a country boy who moved to Crockett and found that there was a back-slidden Baptist under every bush. We just shake the bushes!

The first thing we did at Kilgore was to print a bulletin with a picture of the church on the front and a map with the location on the back. That is a good tool to use in visitation.

That’s the way I do it. When I entered the ministry, I threw everything I had into the ministry. It takes work. I’m an old timer and I do it the hard way. I’ve tried a "visitation program" and people would come a while and then would lose interest. Some people can organize a visitation program and get it to work. I can’t. I had rather assign a person a place to go and let them do it at their convenience. That’s what works for me.

The biggest key is enthusiasm – never lose it. Never sound pessimistic! Don’t get into a rut. Just because "we have always done it this way", doesn’t make it the best way.

My motto is, "Go out into the highways and hedges and compel them to come in."

A big contribution to my ministry has been my wife. The pastor’s wife is an important key to his success. Mrs. Jones has stood by me and supported me all of the way. Most important is, "To God be the glory, What Great Things He Hath Done"!.