The hand of God was upon Bishop D.L. Jones at an early age. His mother recalls that at the tender age of three, growing up in Texas, he uttered, “When I become a grown man, I’m gonna tear down all of these old churches and build God a church, where black people and white people can all come and praise God together.” In 1972, “as a grown man,” this aspiration to build churches was realized when God revealed to him that he would help establish and oversee 16 churches. The founder of The Living Gospel, the late Bishop P.H. Jefferson, encouraged him as he left the mother church, the place responsible for birthing several pastors, elders, and ministers of The Living Gospel Fellowship, in September 1975, to go out and pastor The Living Gospel Outreach in Los Angeles, California.

The establishment of the sixteenth church was fulfilled in November 2022 when, under the leadership of Pastor Richard Clark, The Living Gospel Church of Mesquite, Texas, was officially dedicated. Spanning over 55 years, Bishop Jones’ work has included 1) pastoring churches, which he built from the ground up, 2) mentoring young men as they went out to pastor churches on their own, and 3) stepping in to pastor other churches due to sickness, absence, or death of a pastor. Bishop Jones’ ministry of establishing churches has taken him from the West Coast to the East Coast, including a work on the island of Barbados in the Caribbean. He retired in November 2022, turning the work into the very capable hands of Pastor Richard Clark. A year later, however, God called His servant, Pastor Clark, to rest, and Bishop was reinstated as the Overseer of The Living Gospel Fellowship. He is presently pastoring the Mesquite assembly.

Bishop has preached the Word of God from Genesis to Revelation, but his signature message is that of love, as stated in John 15:17: These things I command you, that ye love one another. The Apostle John reiterated this message in I John 4:7-8: Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. Exhibiting patience, longsuffering, and gentleness to God’s people as well as sinners, Bishop’s ministry embodies both Acts 20:28 and1 Timothy 4:16: Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.

Bishop Jones, along with his wife Alyce of more than 50 years, are endeavoring to finish their course with joy (Acts 20:24). “The Living Gospel Church is not the only church where a person can be saved, but I want to be sure that this is one of them where a repentant sinner can be saved, filled with the Holy Ghost, be taught how to make the Bride of Jesus Christ, and live the abundant life here on Planet Earth—the life Jesus Christ died for each of us to have on a daily basis.” ~Bishop D.L. Jones