SALVATION TESTIMONY
I grew up going to church, since my dad was a preacher. The churches pastored usually had services once a month. A lot of the time, he pastored four different churches at the same time. He would also help in revivals, so we would go to revivals all summer long. I had heard about being saved from all the sermons, had been in services when people got saved, and I had heard a lot of salvation testimonies.
When I was eight years old, I realized that I was lost. I didn’t tell anyone, but I would pray. We lived on a farm, so I would go to the barn and pray. I would pray at night. I was afraid to die. I had always heard that Jesus was coming when you least expect Him, so I would say I am expecting Him tonight. It was childish thing, but I was trying to buy more time to get things right with God.
That year in September, we went to revival at Ebenezer. The last night of the revival which was on Monday, sometimes called blue Monday because revivals would go until they would die down which would happen often at the beginning of the second week. I was on the back seat of the amen corner praying during the alter service All at once, I felt peace. I looked up and everything seemed really bright. They were singing up in the alter area. That night and ever since, I have not been afraid to die. I know that when I die, heaven will be my home. I didn’t tell anyone until the following year at the revival at Sycamore Valley in October. I felt that some my friends were lost, and that I needed to join to church tell my experience. I wanted them to have what I had. When an opportunity for members was given, I joined the church and was baptized. I was blessed by having parents that loved me. They we saved and they carried us four children to church. We the heard the Gospel, and we were all saved at an early age. My wife has been saved, and my two children have been saved. I have been truly blessed.
CALL TO PREACH
As I said in my salvation experience, my dad, T.C. Jones, was a preacher. My brother, Ottis Jones is also a preacher. There is no doubt in my mind that they were called to preach because, knowing them, I do not feel that either one of them would have chosen to preach. I was always fearful that I could be called and grateful that I wasn’t.
Then eleven years ago I started studying church history. I enjoyed it and loved talking about it, mostly to Ottis. He said that I should teach sessions on church history. I thought about it and procrastinated. I really felt it was too much like preaching, and I didn’t want to do it. Last year, 2015, the night after President’s Day, I woke up in 
the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. I had just woke up and wasn’t thinking about anything. Just as I was reaching for the door, it was like a voice, but not out loud, that said “I want you to preach.” I had felt that being sixty-two years old that I had missed being called to preach. That night, I thought that I will just go back to bed to sleep and the next morning it will go away. The next morning, it didn’t. I thought about it all day. I would wake up every morning at about 4:00 and think about it. I dreaded it, but knowing how God has blessed me and my family in so many ways, I was willing. My biggest fear was that I was mistaken and the spirit would not be there. Saturday morning of that week, I woke up at 6:00, and just as I woke up, the exact same thing happened. It was just as I woke up, and I had not been thinking about anything. It was that same voice and it said “I want you to preach.” This time there was no doubt. I knew I was in the presence of God, and I was grateful that God removed the doubt. I hit my knees and thanked him for the assurance.
