T-Jones

Growing up as a child I was greatly influenced by what I saw on Television. I had a dream to be just like the artists I saw on BET and MTV. It was around the first grade that I began to make music with a friend of mine. The music we created was about having nice cars, nice clothing, and getting money. I was lost and confuse at this young age because my focus in life was to be rich and famous. I grew up in the small town of East Prairie, Missouri. Growing up in East Prairie was rough because my mother and father were never truly there for me. My dad was not able to teach me how to be a man because his addictions were controlling his life. My mother was also struggling with addictions and this really affected our relationship. I remember spending many nights at the homes of various relatives because of the negative decisions my parents were making. I felt as if I was all alone and nobody cared for me. On August 10, 1995, my mother and father had my little sister Brandi Nicole Jones. This was important time for me because I felt so blessed to have a sister, someone to whom I could relate, but things still remained the same between my parents. However, God never ceases to amaze me because for some reason I began praying for my family at night. I can not tell you where I learned to pray or how I learned about it but all I know is that I did it. Unfortunately, I still wasnt doing well as a young kid because I began imitating some of the things I saw my parents do. My mother and father were still struggling with addictions and it had begun to get so bad that I missed out on an entire year of the first grade, resulting in a repetition of the year. As time went on my situation continued to spiral out of control. Most of the friends I had were also following what they saw the world doing and many of my family members were going to jail for drugs. In fact, I remember sitting in class as my teacher read the newspaper in which one of the articles involved my cousin being caught with drugs. This was very eye opening for me. I thought about my goals. I wanted to be different but I really did not know how to do that at the time because I was spiritually lost. My life just seemed to be on a downhill slope of negativity and all I was certain of was the fact that I could not do anything about it.

The addictions that had my mother and father so tightly bound got so out of control that family services were made aware of our situation. Thus, my sister and I were almost taken away from our parents and placed into foster care. As soon as my grandmother and aunt got the news about what happened they took us in. Things began to change and even though I had the same friends I began going to church. As the years went on I was on a search to find purpose and meaning in life. Again, I wanted to be different. I saw how drugs and alcohol affected my family. I saw many family members go to jail for murder and even drop out of school. I did not want to end up that way and right at the perfect time God placed a wonderful lady in my life, Darlene Black. This happened around the time I was living with my grandmother. Mrs. Darlene kept me in church and allowed God to use her to help me. She was so much like the mother figure I so desperately wanted and needed. God used her and many others to help me draw close to him. I began changing how I spoke and started encouraging friends to be different. More importantly, I began reaching out to my family. My life at this point was starting to take a turn for what I thought was the best. However, the next portions of my life came so suddenly and with such impact that it shook everything in me and caused me to truly examine my purpose.

On June 27, 2004 I was on my way to Kentucky with some of my family when all of a sudden we were hit head-on by a drunk driver. This event caused me to lose my closest cousin right before our freshman year of high school. My aunt also lost her 8 month old son that the doctors said she could never have. With the progression of time my grandmother who had taken care of me passed away. This left me with only one option so I moved in with my aunt, the mother of my cousin who had died in the accident. This made the tragedy that much more surreal and for quite some time I was confused about the entire situation. Yet, right in the midst of my confusion and wondering God was working and developing a great plan for me.

I actually ended up going to a youth rally where I made a decision to do the will of God for my life and all my prayers were answered. It was at this youth summer camp in Steelville, Mo that I felt God speak to me. His words for me were to reach out to the young people in the world so that they can know who he is. This, I now know, was an answer to the questions that I had for God.