O. T. Jones, Sr.

Who was O. T. Jones, Sr.?

Reverend Ozro Thurston Jones Sr. was a Pentecostal - Holiness denomination leader and minister, who was the second Senior Bishop of the Church of God in Christ, Inc. from, succeeding Bishop Charles Harrison Mason, who was the founder. The Church of God in Christ is the world's largest Pentecostal denomination and fourth largest denomination in the United States. Ozro Jones was born in Fort Smith, Arkansas, the son of Baptist parents, Marion and Mary Jones. As a young man, in 1912, he experienced and confessed salvation and "spirit baptism" or "infilling" as a second work of grace. He answered a call to the ministry under the guidance of Elder Justus Bowe, a COGIC pioneer. Soon afterwards, he, his older sister and a brother developed into an evangelistic team in North Arkansas and the surrounding states. Over the next few years 18 congregations were established as a direct result of their evangelistic endeavors. In 1914 Jones organized the youth department of the Church of God in Christ and served as its first president. Two years later he founded and edited the Y.P.W.W. Quarterly Topics, an education-oriented journal. In 1920 he was appointed assistant to the state overseer in Oklahoma.