he body of Christ received a gift from God when Bishop Noel Jones was born. Therefore, it was by Divine appointment that he followed in the footsteps of his father, Bishop Robert Jones, when he acknowledged his call into ministry at the age nineteen.

Although he was raised in Jamaica under an extremely strict Pentecostal traditional system, he somehow escaped the limitations of tradition to widen his spiritual parameters to reach people of varied backgrounds and cultures. Grace Jones, along with the diversity of his other siblings probably helped a great deal. "If I could reconcile and keep peace among us, I can reconcile the Church through the power of God."

Bishop Jones' ministry uniquely promotes reconciliation and redemption, which definitely crosses denominational and social lines. His God given anointing to preach and teach from a psychological-theological platform opposed to arguing philosophical-theological church issues has strengthened and encouraged the faith of people across the globe from Seattle to Miami, from London to Africa.

His intellectual, scriptural approach, and his intense oratorical style, stimulates the intellect of people on all levels of life. This style and approach was responsible for Tavis Smiley flying from Washington, D.C. to Los Angeles every weekend to attend service. Many hail his method as "being practical, yet powerful" while penetrating the hardest of hearts, captivating the attention of the restless and convincing the confused that God is able to save anybody.

Bishop Jones pastors the City of Refuge Church in Gardena (by Los Angeles), and upon his installment as pastor, the membership was approximately 3,300. Some view him, as going from "known to well known" and it is evident by the increase of membership well over 10,000.

Bishop Jones articulates a strong statement that offers the only real choice to the problems of the day - salvation through Jesus Christ. While reflecting on the idea that religion seemed to offer no real relevance to the changing climate of the times, he founded Noel Jones Ministries. The primary focus of this ministry is to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ through the Word via media resources.

Bishop Jones has a few books awaiting publication, and many audio and video cassettes. He can currently be seen on BET during his "Fresh Oil" broadcast that airs each Wednesday morning at 7:00 a.m., and on The Church Channel Friday evenings at 8:30 p.m. Pacific Time. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.