Hugh's News & Commentary

Bishop Chris Thompson, executive director of Evangelism USA, and chairman of Chaplains Ministries, IPHC gave me the opportunity to assist him in selecting my successor. He and I have been working on this selection and transfer of leadership for almost two years. It was my honor and distinct privilege to write a letter of introduction and recommendation that the Evangelism USA Council approve him to be the next Director/Endorser of Chaplains Ministries, IPHC.

I wrote a three-page document that was presented and read to the EVUSA Council on Thursday, December 1, 2011, in Oklahoma City. I was unable to be present for the meeting due to intense pain in my right knee and leg, and unable to walk long distances.

Here is some of what I wrote:

It is a high honor and a distinct privilege for me to recommend Chaplain (Colonel) Jerry L. Jones, Garrison Chaplain, Fort Sill, Oklahoma to be considered for the next Director/Endorser of Chaplains Ministries, IPHC.

Jerry has distinguished himself as one of the most outstanding Army chaplains the IPHC has ever produced. His service to God and Country is to be highly honored and respected, and we stand today to salute this servant leader who has won the admiration and the hearts of both his superiors and subordinates in the United States Army.
  Chaplain Jerry Jones and Sarah Tarpley    
     at Sarah's commissioning ceremony

It was my special privilege to be asked by the late Chaplain (Colonel) Ervin L. Shirey, Sr. to interview Jerry with Chaplain Shirey in 1979 in Birmingham, Alabama, at the church, Good Shepherd Pentecostal Holiness Church, when I was the senior pastor. Jerry desired to be an Army chaplain, and he convinced us that God had called him to this ministry and his preparation both academically and in practical pastoral leadership experience validated that call. Needless to say, he impressed Shirey and me, and we approved him for endorsement as an Army chaplain.

At that time, I was in the Air Force Reserve and attached for training at Maxwell AFB, Alabama at the Air University there. Little did I know, and certainly Chaplain Shirey did not know that one day I would be the director/endorser of Chaplains Ministries, IPHC. So, in the providence of God Chaplain Shirey was grooming me to become that person in the future. I certainly never dreamed it or desired to be the director/endorser. I am grateful for Chaplain Shirey’s leadership in mentoring and grooming me. What a great man, and friend he was to me.

Of all the potential candidates for this position as the director of Chaplains Ministries, IPHC, I believe that Jerry Jones is the prime candidate. He has the leadership ability to take this ministry to the next higher level, and I want to do all I can to help him achieve that worthy goal. He has the experience and the wisdom along with enough youth to make him successful.

I highly recommend him to be approved as my successor. Should you chose to appoint Jerry Jones as the Director/Endorser of Chaplains Ministries, IPHC, he will become the 5th retired military chaplain to serve in this position who has either attended Holmes Bible College or graduated from that institution. All of the five studied the Bible under the able teaching of Dr. Paul F. Beacham. Now, it is not a requirement that a graduate of Holmes Bible College be the director, but it has been the case without the ruling. Somehow, I think God had something to with it. My faith says He did.

Those directors/endorsers are:
Chaplain (Colonel) Ervin L. Shirey, Sr., United States Army Retired
Chaplain (Colonel) Raymond Caulder, United States Army Retired
Chaplain (Colonel) Freeman Mashburn, United States Army Retired
Chaplain, Lieutenant Colonel Hugh H. Morgan, United States Air Force Retired
Chaplain (Colonel) Jerry L. Jones, United States Army, to retired in September 2012

I have followed Jerry’s career with great interest. It has been a pleasure to visit him and Cynthia at several of his duty posts:

• Fort Jackson, SC, when he was a teacher and division chief of the Army Chaplain Center and School. Two visits: one as a pastoral visit and the second visit when he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel. I was pleased with the detail with which he cared for me, the VIP housing on the lake near the Officers Club.

• Wuerzberg, Germany when he was the garrison chaplain. Melvine and I enjoyed attending his large chapel service where he preached, and I can attest to the fact that he is a good preacher. The people responded favorably to his ministry and he and Cynthia were loved. We enjoyed eating German food with them in some fine restaurants as well.

• Fort Sill, OK, when he had his promotion ceremony upon being promoted to full colonel. It was well planned, deeply spiritual, with gratitude to God and for so many people who had helped him achieve this promotion. It was well attended, and his friends came from far and near to be a part of his promotion ceremony. After the chapel service we were invited to the Officers Club for dinner.

I know Jerry’s parents and many of his relatives. They were members of the Richmond First Pentecostal Holiness Church. His father, Willie Jones, was a bi-vocational minister and pastored churches no one else would pastor. He was noted for his soul-winning and caught some big fish in Richmond—men who turned their lives over to Jesus. He was master craftsman in the tile mason business and worked on many expensive houses, office complexes, and hotels. His grandmother and other relatives were members of the church and were faithful in their attendance. I know I was their pastor.

I have met Jerry and Cynthia’s two children: Jessica and Jay. I followed Jay’s career in college as a baseball player. Although he had potential to be a professional baseball pitcher, he obeyed the call of God, served as commissioned line officer in the Army, and now is a seminary student at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and commissioned as an Army Chaplain Candidate with the Southern Baptist Convention. Jay is a soul winner, loves the Bible, as well as Biblical and Systematic theology.

While Jerry was stationed at Fort Jackson, SC, he preached a revival at Flatwoods Pentecostal Holiness Church out in the country in Elbert County, Georgia, in the Georgia Conference. The attendance was excellent and the people loved him and his preaching. Melvine and I went on Sunday to hear him. We loved his preaching, too.

Jerry loves the Pentecostal Holiness Church, and is a committed churchman. He will take a while to get acquainted with conference superintendents and leaders, but that will be no problem for him. He meets people easily and knows how to listen and win friends.

I sense that as you consider Jerry Jones to be my successor that you will sense that you are in the center of a karios moment that God has ordained. I rest my case with all due respect for each of you good men and woman who serve our church well as members of the Evangelism USA Council. May God grant you wisdom in your decision.

[Editor's Comment: Bishop Chris Thompson called me on Thursday evening, December 1, 2011, following the dinner banquet for the council, and informed me that the Evangelism Council voted unanimously to approve Chaplain (Colonel) Jerry Jones to be the next Director/Endorser, Chaplains Ministries, IPHC. This seamless transition will take place on 1 October 2012.

Let us lift up Chaplain Jerry Jones and his wife, Cynthia, as they prepare for their retirement from the Army next September 2012, and begin another career as our director/endorser.]