For the 40 years that Bro. Jefferson pastored, this was his total life. His greatest love was for the people of God. As his time started to wind down, God revealed to him the need to prepare young men to pastor churches under this ministry in other parts of the country. God also revealed to him that one of those young men, Bro. D.L. Jones, would succeed him as overseer of this ministry. Bro. Jones had aspired to be a medical doctor as a young boy growing up in Central Texas, but God had a different plan for his life. God wanted him to help people’s souls, not their bodies, for the soul is eternal, body, temporal. Bro. Jones, a brilliant student, earned his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Psychology/Sociology and graduated Magna Cum Laude from UCLA’s prestigious School of Business. Yet, he turned down the opportunity of being a captain of industry to give his life to the work of the ministry. He met his wife, Sis. Alyce Faye Jones, in college. She left a career as a technical writer and spurned her pedagogic yearnings to support her husband in the ministry, being a help in organizational skills and in the music department.
Bro. Jones sat under the teaching and worked with Bro. Jefferson for over 25 years. As young men were sent out to pastor a work, Bro. Jefferson became the bishop of this Body of Christ ministry. In 1991, the work had expanded to six churches, and Bishop Jefferson prepared himself to leave this earth. On May 24, 1991, Bishop Jefferson passed away and passed the mantel on to Bishop D.L. Jones.
For the past 23 years, Bishop Jones has dedicated his life to continue this work and allow God to expand it. The number of churches has more than doubled, including a location in Barbados. More people have been added to the Body and have received the Holy Ghost. More lives have been changed by the teaching. Bishop Jones has kept the faith despite great challenges with his health, including diabetes, blindness, and kidney failure, requiring dialysis. He continues to give his best to this ministry. This is his life.
History will record that The Living Gospel Church has remained stable for the past 63 years. The transition from Bishop Jefferson to Bishop Jones was innocuous – and without rancor. The Living Gospel in recent years has rekindled its fellowship with the other Body of Christ Churches. God has smiled on this ministry and, as we remain faithful and committed to God, He will continue to do so for generations to come.
