I am Paul David Jones and I grew up in Alabama attending a small rural Baptist church where I accepted Jesus as my Savior at age seven. All of my life has been spent in Christian service, called of God in the beginning to the ministry of music and later during college years finding the call to Christian education as well.
My education following high school was to begin my journey to my present church. It began at Clark College in Newton, Mississippi (now a satellite campus of Mississippi College). While there I served churches as their music director. Coming west as a student summer missionary I received a music scholarship offer at Grand Canyon College in Phoenix, Arizona. While there I served as music director with First Southern Baptist Church of Avondale. During my junior year I was offered a ministry with First Southern Baptist Church of Long Beach, California, as music and youth director, with an offer to pay for my remaining year of bachelor’s work at California Baptist College in Riverside, California. Four years later I was called to Clayton Road Baptist Church in Concord, California. I served there for two years before entering Golden Gate Seminary in Mill Valley, California to seek a degree in Christian Education. During this time I served as one of the leaders of Christian High Adventure, a backpacking and mountaineering program developed by Southern Baptists. After graduation I served Harvard Terrace Baptist Church in Fresno, California then back to Arizona to serve again First Southern Baptist Church of Avondale, Arizona. I did so for seven and a half years and then my life changed drastically.
I was married right after finishing my associated degree at Clark College. By the time my wife, Nancy, and I were in the first year at Grand Canyon College our first son, Anthony was born. Our second son, Joshua, was born in Long Beach and Andrew, our third, was born in Fresno. All seemed well and when we received the call to return to Avondale, it was a most exciting time. I threw myself into building the music and educational programs of the church and Nancy into children’s choirs and Sunday School children’s classes. Unfortunately, my wife and I drifted apart and our marriage of twenty years ended. We shared custody of the boys, promising to our marriage of twenty make them the focus of both our love as we all worked through such a difficult transition.
I moved into Phoenix (20 miles away) and began to seek work in the building trades where I had spent much time in my youth. I was not to be in church for some time during those days. I then met Anne, the woman who was in four years to become my second wife, and she introduced me to Bethany Presbyterian Church in Phoenix. We both began to attend and I was “adopted” by Rev. John Robertson, the pastor, who helped me through my personal struggle and maturing. He performed the wedding ceremony for Anne and me, attended by all our children.
During the years since, I have spent abundant time with the boys, building the relationships I deeply cherish to this day. They are all successful in their chosen fields and have children of their own. Anne’s son and daughter and my children have always had a great affection for each other, a blessing I cannot put into words. We are now thrilled to have five grandchildren ranging in age from twenty to six months!
Now, as to how I came to pastor Yarnell Community Presbyterian Church. While I was at Bethany (1985 - 1995), I accepted ordination as Ruling Elder and served on Session. I was active in the music program and taught Bible study. It was a rebuilding and encouraging time for us as Anne and I grew our own relationship. The day came when John retired and the church began to seek a new pastor. I was asked to serve on the pastor search committee and became close to Rev. Stan Jones who became the interim pastor during that period. John called me one day and asked a question I was not ready to answer…”Would you like to preach at Yarnell Community Presbyterian Church?” John had been supply preaching since retirement from Bethany and he had been to Yarnell. I didn’t feel qualified and was reticent about going. After six weeks of John’s urging I finally said yes when he assured me that a sermon is simply a Bible study and that I was a good communicator.
Upon John’s recommendation to the church, I went to Yarnell as an invited “supply preacher”. I did not know how this was going to so profoundly change my life. Yarnell is a village on a mountain plateau some eighty miles northwest of Phoenix. It is made up of ranchers, miners and many older people who have sought it out as an inexpensive place to live, where they can grow gardens and fruit trees. One Sunday led to another and another, until the Session asked if I would consider being their permanent pastor. There were some problems to be considered.
The request was for a part-time pastorate and would mean traveling to the village on week-ends. To be “official” I would have to complete the Presbytery’s requirements for becoming a commissioned lay pastor, as my degree in Religious Education and my ordination as a Baptist minister did not meet the qualifications to be a Minister of Word and Sacrament in PCUSA. All of this began in June, 1995 and, with the help of John Robertson and Stan Jones, I was commissioned in September of that same year. By February, of 1996, we had sold our home in Phoenix and purchased one in Peeples Valley, a few miles north of Yarnell. I had developed enough contacts in the area to work as a tradesman in surrounding communities while pastoring this village church of 15-20 attendees.
What I found, as the congregation began to grow, was unlike small community churches I had previously known. Instead of a power block by a few long standing families, there was an openness to including others. I spent the first five years building relationships with the original attendees and those who began to arrive. The base that we all created was that of acceptance and love. To this day, our mission statement is simply, “To live by faith, to be known by love, and to be a voice of hope.” Now, after twenty one years we have matured our mission in a way that has gained the respect of Yarnell and the villages that surround it. Those, especially in need of help, have come to know that we will love them unconditionally and will begin to touch them at the level of their need, be it groceries or spiritual struggles.
The church had grown enough in ten years to ask assistance from our Presbytery to move me from part-time to full-time as their pastor. To that end, we applied for and received a $100,000 grant which provided the foundation to do that. With $20,000 dollars a year for five years we made steady gains in membership and attendance. By the time the grant ended I was able to begin part A of Social Security which made up for any setback in income. Over these last eleven years we have continued to provide a consistent and energetic ministry to this aged community. Much of my time continues to be spent building deep and trusted relationships with the people of the church and community.
Because we are a “senior” village, most of those who have joined us have lives matured in faith, making it rich in worship, study and discipleship. Over the years there have been significant professions of faith by some who have come to trust us. Among them, a Jewish friend who embraced Jesus because he saw Jesus so much alive in our midst. Another, whose story is to long to tell here, is a retired engineer whose pragmatic mind would not let him consider Christianity until he worked side by side with many of us during the time of recovery from the Yarnell Hill Fire of June 2013, which made national news because of the deaths of nineteen fire fighters. Baptizing both these men, along with others over the years, have been milestones for me personally. The former is now an ordained elder serving on Session, and the latter is an ordained deacon, presently moderator of the board.
During the long recovery from the devastating fire, the church served as a center for many agencies such as The Red Cross and Salvation Army. The building and parking lot suffered damage during those intensive days due to heavy equipment and many feet. I later wrote a sermon entitled “The Door Knobs Don’t Match”. It tell the story of Yarnell Community Presbyterian Church, begun in 1947 with building renovations numerous times since then (3 during my ministry).
The building is made up of an eclectic mix of furnishings and finishes but is best known by members, friends and community by the signs hanging over the entry doors which simply say, “Servants’ Entrance”. Anne and I have often said we are living the best years of our lives here and as I look back over the years, I know it to be continually true.
The church is preparing for my retirement and we hope for a “passing of the baton” so that I can serve together with a new pastor for a while. We see it as a “Paul and Timothy” idea and the congregation has convinced me that it will work because we share the vision of discovering what God is doing and finding our calling in the midst of that. I look forward to new ideas and energetic leadership from whomever God is sending to be the continuing shepherd of this discipled and dedicated congregation.
Our part of Arizona is slowly moving from ranch land to community developments. Yarnell has a wonderful climate and with the closest city of any size being forty minutes away, I predict that in ten years the demographic picture here will change considerably. I believe that all God has taught us over the years is preparing this church to welcome and embrace the changes that are coming.
Our worship ends each Sunday with a benediction written by Dr. Richard Halverson, chaplain of the U.S. senate for many years, “Wherever you go, God is sending you. Wherever you are, God has a purpose in your being there. Christ, who indwells you, has something he wants to do through you, wherever you are. Believe it and go in his grace and power!”
