Russell Jones, retired assistant police chief of the Winnfield Police Department and current pastor of Winnfield’s Christ Wesleyan Fellowship, was special guest and speaker at the Winnfield Rotary Club’s meeting on August 21.  

Jones was raised in Calvin and upon graduation from Calvin High School, he joined the United States Navy. He trained and served as an electronics technician, travelling all over the world working in that capacity. After serving his six-year term in the Navy, Jones returned to Winn Parish, where he made a connection with local law enforcement in martial arts class. He was hired by Winnfield’s police chief at that time, Cranford Jordan, and spent 43 years on the Winnfield Police force, working his way up from an entry level position to assistant police chief, the first non-Caucasian person to have done so.

In commenting on the changes he has observed in law enforcement in his 43 years on the force, he said he has noted a lack of unity, love and compassion in homes as well as in the community as a whole, a lack of Jesus Christ as the center of the home, and a decrease in the number of Christian leaders in our community. Jones also said the decrease in Winnfield’s population in the last several years and the closing of plants and mills has resulted in fewer jobs and opportunities for young people. It also seems to him that people are generally less willing to help each other now than when he was growing up in the parish.

Since leaving the Navy, Jones has furthered his education at numerous institutions of higher learning, including Northwestern, Louisiana College, New Orleans Theological Seminary and the Louisiana Baptist Seminary,

Jones said he was called by the Lord to preach in 2004 and was blessed to have a supportive Christian wife, Raynore Jones, who has helped him greatly in the ministry. Much of his higher education was to learn more about the Bible so he can “rightly divide the word of truth” from the pulpit. 

Jones pastored the Christian Fellowship church in Dodson for 15 years. The Lord recently opened the door for his retirement from the police force, and the opportunity for full-time ministry as he was called to be the pastor of Winnfield’s Christ Wesleyan Fellowship in Winnfield. Rev. Jones looks forward to spending all day every day in growing the Kingdom of God here in Winn Parish.